Chapter 501 500 Zhang Lian's Whereabouts

Emperor Jiajing ordered Jinyiwei to escort Hu Zongxian, the governor of Zhejiang Province, to Beijing. When the order was conveyed to Jinyiwei, the experience of Fusi in Beizhen began to get busy. At the same time, he prepared secret orders and sent them to hundreds of Jinyiwei households in Hangzhou through Jinyiwei's independent messaging system. The other side was busy applying for driving licenses. After getting the stamped and registered driving licenses from the Director of Ceremonies and the Sixth Section, they were quickly handed over to a group of Ti riders who had already assembled.

After receiving the driving post, the Tiqi team leader did not dare to neglect, and led his men and horses out of the city, heading towards Hangzhou.

Naturally, such a big news could not be hidden from the Manchu officials, especially after the driving post reached the sixth subject, the news of Hu Zongxian's downfall was basically confirmed.

Before Xu Jie, Yuan Wei and others left Xiyuan, the entire officialdom in the capital began to discuss the matter and speculated on who would take over as the governor of Zhejiang Province.

As news came out from the Ministry of War, the scope of Japanese invaders has gradually moved southward in recent years, with frequent Japanese invasions in Fujian and Guangdong. Zhejiang and South Zhili have calmed down. Suddenly, in the eyes of hundreds of officials, the position of Governor of Zhejiang is Even more tempting.

"In that case, let's see who is suitable to governor Zhejiang?"

At this time, in the Yongshou Palace in Xiyuan, Emperor Jiajing asked again.

After he finished speaking, he was greeted by a moment of silence in the palace, and no one came out to recommend candidates for Zhejiang governor.

After all, things happened suddenly and they were not prepared.

Now that Emperor Jiajing is asking about it, it is naturally difficult to come up with a few decent candidates.

"Your Majesty, the incident happened suddenly, and I couldn't think of a suitable candidate for the moment."

At this time, Xu Jie, as the chief minister of the cabinet, looked sideways at the people in the hall and said.

Everyone was silent. As the chief minister of the dynasty, naturally he couldn't say a word. Even if he couldn't recommend him, he should at least say a few words to break the atmosphere in the palace.

"Then you should discuss the candidate as soon as possible."

After listening to Xu Jie's words, Emperor Jiajing just said lightly: "Select from officials in the court, forget those from outside Beijing."

Emperor Jiajing selected the candidate for governor of Zhejiang in Beijing, so naturally he had his own considerations.

If they were selected from among foreign officials, they would have to go to the capital first and then set off south to Zhejiang.

Although the situation facing Zhejiang now is not what it used to be, it still faces the threat of Japanese pirates after all.

Choosing from among the officials in the capital naturally eliminates the need to return to the capital. After being selected, you can almost directly issue an order and immediately go south to take up your post.

"According to the order."

Xu Jie and other officials bowed and answered at this time.

Coming out of the Yongshou Palace, everyone's expressions were solemn, and they were all thinking about who in the capital was suitable for the post of governor.

In fact, there are not many officials in the capital who are suitable for the position of governor. Generally speaking, only officials from the third rank and above are qualified to hold this position.

The ministers of the Sixth Ministry, the ministers of the five temples, and the deputy imperial envoys of the Metropolitan Procuratorate.

Considering that although Zhejiang does not have large-scale Japanese pirate intrusion, it still faces threats, and the candidate for governor must have military experience. If you think so, the left and right ministers of the Ministry of War are naturally the most suitable candidates.

In addition, the main responsibility of the governor is to supervise local officials. Although he is in charge of civil affairs, most of this is done through the Chief Envoy. Naturally, the Deputy Imperial Envoy in the Metropolitan Procuratorate can also hold this position.

As a result, many people were secretly looking at Yang Bo, the Minister of War, and Pan En, the Imperial Censor of Zuodu, on the road to see if they would approach Xu Jie and Yuan Wei and make peace with them.

The group of people quickly left Xiyuan and then headed to the cabinet together.

Emperor Jiajing wanted them to decide on a candidate for governor as soon as possible. Naturally, there was no time to waste, so he had to go directly to the cabinet to discuss the candidate so that he could submit the report as soon as possible.

In Prince Yu's Mansion, the main room in a small courtyard was quiet at this time.

At this time, King Yu, Yin Shizhen and others were closing their eyes to rest. They had previously sent people to see Gao Gong at the Ministry of Rites and told him what the palace wanted. Governor's job.

Now that both parties have reached an agreement, the only thing left is to inform Xu Jie not to push Gao Gong out and to be included in the recommendation list.

Although Wei Guangde guessed that Emperor Jiajing would not let Gao Gong go, he could not bear the chance.

At this time, the sun was already setting in the west. On a hill by the sea, a figure stood on it, looking at the vast sea to the west with a complicated look.

At the foot of the hill is a small bay, with numerous large and small boats moored in it. Many people are active on the boats and on the shore, but everyone looks decadent at this time, without any energy at all.

This is a natural harbor south of Dongfan Island. Across the sea is the Fujian Province of the Ming Dynasty.

After the figure stood there for a long time, he finally sighed and withdrew his eyes that contained unwillingness, regret, and reluctance.

There was a noise behind the hill. The man looked back and saw a group of soldiers carrying a lot of looted food and escorting some prisoners towards the bay.

Those were the men he sent out to snatch supplies from nearby natives.

He is the leader of the thieves who once offered a high reward in the Ming Dynasty, and the leader of the Feilong Kingdom.

Even he didn't know what was going on. He was still staying well in his own team. As a result, the news spread among the Feilong Army everywhere that he had been captured by the Ming Dynasty officials. This made the rebels everywhere lose their morale. Very soon. They were quickly defeated by the Ming troops swarming around them.

The morale of the army was shattered, and he had no choice but to bring more than a thousand of his remaining troops to flee eastward. It was no longer possible to stay in the Ming Dynasty.

In his opinion, the Ming court spread the news of his capture in order to break the morale of the rebel army.

This was done deliberately. He didn't expect that just a few rumors could fool his subordinates. He could only say that he underestimated the generals of the Ming army.

How could he have thought that the real reason was that the government troops recognized the wrong person and falsely reported their military achievements. Although they found out later, they were worried about being punished, so they could only try every means to cover up their mistakes.

He also understood the principle of shooting the horse first and capturing the king first. He dreamed of raiding the capital and capturing the Jiajing Emperor Zhu Houcong alive. Perhaps there would be a large number of prefectures and counties surrendering and falling into the hands of his Feilong King without having to fight for every city or place in the world.

However, this was just a thought, he couldn't do it.

He couldn't even get into Zhejiang, let alone sneak attack the capital.

Seeing that the situation was hopeless, Zhang Lian had to take his men to the seaside and use his boat people to find some sea boats to escape.

But Zhang Lian regretted it the first time he arrived at the vast sea.

He had heard about the horror of the sea before. Even in the face of calm seas, according to the boat people, there might be strong winds at any time, and the waves several feet high would rush over and directly overturn these Fu ships.

The sea ships that the boat people found for them were Fu ships. Although the Ming Dynasty court banned the sea, in fact, many gentry families along the coast were doing maritime business, and they had more or less hidden some sea ships.

But for those who are not familiar with them, it is extremely difficult to find them.

Thanks to the boat people leading the way, they were able to gather ships in a short time.

When he separated from Lin Chaoxi, he only had more than a thousand men under his command. During the escape, he gathered some men along the way, and there were only about 2,000 men.

These are all the capital to save his life. Of course, he didn't want to give up casually, so he had to take them all.

On the sea, it is a place where strength speaks.

The reason why he thought of going to sea for refuge was that when he was selecting his personal soldiers, he selected several strong men from the boat people.

When he was at the end of his rope, he saw them and thought of seizing the boat to go to sea.

Although the Ming Dynasty was big, there was no place for him to settle down, and staying there would only lead to death.

It is better to live than to die, and Zhang Lian still wants to make a comeback.

At present, the general trend is gone, and it is the right way to avoid the edge and live in peace.

Zhang Lian is not a blind hero, and those who can build a country in this era will not be people without scheming.

After assessing the situation, Zhang Lian has made his own choice, but he is so unwilling and reluctant.

After all, it is hard to leave his hometown. He will come to this hill these days and look at his hometown in the distance. There is the Ming Dynasty, where he was born and raised.

In this era, although the navigation technology developed rapidly, the ships of the Ming Dynasty could also go directly from Fujian to Japan or go to Southeast Asia, but most of them still needed to stop at nearby ports along the way to replenish fresh water and food. If they wanted to sail all the way, they could only carry fewer people and goods on each ship and bring more supplies. This also depended on God's blessing and did not encounter big winds and waves.

After entering the sea, although Zhang Lian felt that the world was vast and he could travel freely, he was still uneasy if the ship did not dock.

After asking the people around him who had been boatmen, he chose to come to Dongfan Island first, replenish some sailing supplies, and then choose the next destination.

Dongfan Island is actually Taiwan Island in later generations. At this time, the island was deserted, and only the natives and a small number of Han people on the other side came here to live and make a living, either to escape from crime, or to avoid taxes or war.

In the official records of the Ming Dynasty, this big island was called Jilong Mountain, or Dongfan.

Although it was not far from the Fujian Province of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty did not send troops to occupy it after its founding.

In Zhu Yuanzhang's mind, it was enough for him to recover the land of the Yuan Dynasty. As for Taiwan Island, which was close to Fujian, the Ming Dynasty did not regard it as its territory because there was no government to govern it during the Yuan Dynasty. It just set up a patrol office in the Penghu Islands according to the system of the Yuan Dynasty to control the Taiwan Strait.

For some Ming people who did not understand the ocean, many people thought that this was the Ryukyu Kingdom.

After the Ming Dynasty and the Ryukyu Kingdom confirmed the suzerainty relationship, Dongfan Island was confirmed not to belong to the Ryukyu Kingdom. Therefore, in the official records of the Ming Dynasty, there was a distinction between the Great Ryukyu Kingdom and the Small Ryukyu Kingdom. The Great Ryukyu Kingdom was naturally the Ryukyu Islands, and the Small Ryukyu Kingdom was Dongfan Island, that is, Taiwan.

In the 28th year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang, the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty, listed 15 "unconquered countries". Zhu Yuanzhang listed Korea, Japan, Great Ryukyu, Little Ryukyu, Annan, Zhenla, Siam, Champa, Sumatra, Western, Java, Penheng, Baihua, Sanfuqi, and Brunei as among them, warning future generations not to conquer them at will.

However, for those who make a living on the sea, they naturally know what the so-called Little Ryukyu is. It is just a tribe of indigenous people. There is no king here, and there is no country at all.

Although Zhang Lian found many boat people who had been to sea and understood the real situation here, he did not dare to stay here for a long time.

In his opinion, once his whereabouts were exposed, given the distance between the two places, he might wake up and find that the army of the Ming court had arrived here.

So although Dongfan Island was good, it was not a place where he could stay for a long time, and could only be used as a temporary station.

The ship he robbed this time had a lot of food on board because he had to use it from time to time. However, he brought too many people this time, about 2,000 people, so it was not enough for them to use. Moreover, he did not have a clear destination before going out to sea.

"Meet the king."

At this moment, two strong men had walked up to him and saluted him.

"How did you get today?"

Zhang Lian looked at the two captains of the personal guards and asked.

"Report to the king, in the past half a month, we have swept away more than ten native tribes of all sizes in the surrounding area. The food should be enough for two months."

One of the strong men answered.

"We captured some captives and asked them. There is no larger tribe nearby. If we want to find it, we have to go to the mountains farther away. However, the journey is long and the mountains are steep, which is very difficult to attack."

Another man also said.

Now, the leaders who used to follow Zhang Lian, such as Xiao Wan, Luo Pao, and Lin Zhaoxi, were either captured by the Ming court or died in battle. Zhang Lian could only rely on the captains of the personal guards who had always been by his side.

Moreover, at this point, he did not dare to trust those leaders who had surrendered to him, fearing that they would have a different mind and tie him up and send him to the Ming court in exchange for his wealth.

"In that case, forget it."

Zhang Lian also knew that his men were not fully recovered from their low morale after fleeing here. If they rashly attacked a large tribe in the distance, even if they won, if the casualties were too heavy, something might happen.

Turning back, he looked to the east again, and said leisurely: "What do you think about the matter we discussed last time?"

"My Lord, I think it is still inappropriate to go to the Japanese country in the east. It is better to go south according to Tian Erzhuang's idea. There are some small countries there, and it is easy to conquer a place for the brothers to recuperate."

It was still the strong man who spoke first.

"Er Zhuang, what do you think?"

Zhang Lian did not reveal his attitude, but still asked.

"Lord, I have been to several countries in Southeast Asia with the captain. Those so-called countries are weak and have few people. To put it bluntly, we can directly destroy them and grab a piece of land when we go there."

Tian Er Zhuang answered loudly, "So, I think going to Southeast Asia is the best place."

"Is it really difficult to fight in Japan?"

Zhang Lian was still a little unwilling and asked.

"Lord, Japan is also divided into many kings. Don't look at it as only one or two cities, but they can easily pull out thousands of troops, and the Japanese warriors are indeed very powerful."

Tian Er Zhuang answered.

"I know."

Zhang Lian cast a last reluctant look to the east, turned around and said to the two.