Chapter 889 Official reaction

The situation on Zhoushan Island gradually returned to calm under Haihan's strong control, but the conflicts of interest caused by the arrival of Haihan in the coastal states of Zhejiang did not end there. The investment fair held on Zhoushan Island at the end of May created a number of

Vested interests, but at the same time, some people who relied on Zhoushan's original trading system for income suffered heavy losses. For these people, the arrival of the Haihan people was tantamount to a disaster, and the new trading system organized by the Haihan people was even more

It completely cut off their opportunity to gain profits from trade in the East China Sea.

As the saying goes, cutting off a person's wealth is like killing his parents. In the eyes of these people who have suffered financial losses, Haihan is their biggest enemy. Although the powerful force displayed by Haihan in the Battle of Zhoushan shocked all onlookers who were ready to act,

This has not completely eliminated the hatred stemming from profit. There are still many people trying to make Haihan suffer.

In the 20th year of Hongwu (1387), Xin Guogong Tanghe was appointed by Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang. When inspecting coastal defense in Zhejiang, he selected Shaoxing Prefecture, Yuyao, and Shangyu County to build an acropolis at the northern Haikou stronghold. Taking the meaning of the adjacent temple mountain, he named it

Linshan Guard. In the thirty-sixth year of the Jiajing reign, Ningshao Counselor Qi Jiguang led troops to Linshan Guard to fight against the Japanese. He once again reinforced and built a city wall more than five miles long, beacon towers, forts and other military facilities, and gained the famous "Longshan"

"A great victory", which in one fell swoop reversed the situation of the anti-Japanese war in eastern Zhejiang at that time.

However, since the Tianqi period, piracy and plundering activities in the East China Sea have gradually decreased, and have evolved into a new way of profit-making, mainly armed smuggling. The defenses of Jinshan Guard, Haining Guard, Linshan Guard, Guanhai Guard and other guard posts on both sides of Hangzhou Bay

The pressure has been reduced accordingly, and many military attachés from the guard have also joined the smuggling trade openly or covertly, using their official status and even using official ships and docks for personal gain.

However, this situation has fundamentally changed after the arrival of the Haihan people. More businessmen have participated in this profit game and have chosen to join the Haihan side. The exclusive sales agreement formulated by the Haihan people has made the military

People can no longer participate directly. This is indeed an unacceptable change for the military, which has been accustomed to collecting money and harvesting in the past few years. However, they also know that it is difficult to suppress this foreign dragon, so they only

I can suppress my anger temporarily.

That day, a awning boat came to the dock near Linshanwei. After docking, the people on the boat threw a token. Not long after, a covered carriage drove up from the dock. After parking, a few people got off the boat.

People got into the car without stopping. After the driver left the dock, he did not go to the nearby towns, but drove directly into Linshan Acropolis. Wei Shan, the commander of Linshan Acropolis, went out to greet him in person.

These mysterious guests welcomed him into his official residence.

The identities of these people who were able to help Wei Shan come forward were indeed extraordinary. The leader of the team was Zhejiang Dusi Commander Qian Shi Yu Pingfeng, who was the official backer behind the Zhoushan Boat Gang. Three days had passed since the Haihan people invaded Zhoushan Island.

He had just received the news, and by the time he could react, the war on Zhoushan Island was over. Naturally, Yu Pingfeng was unwilling to have his share of the industry taken away by a group of outsiders so easily, and used his authority to report to Ningbo Prefecture.

Both Guanhaiwei and Changguowei issued official documents asking them to expel the Haihan people who invaded the Ming Dynasty's waters with arms.

However, after these official documents were sent out, they were like nothing. There was not even the slightest reply. After waiting for more than ten days, the Ningbo government responded and said that due to the recent poor sea conditions, the navy's ships were seriously damaged and they were currently intensifying repairs and could not be repaired for the time being.

Go out to sea to perform tasks. As for what happened to the Haihan people locally, the local health department said it is still under investigation. It is currently suspected to be a private fight caused by pirates plundering merchant ships. A few days later, an official document from Ningbo reporting the merits was also delivered.

Zhejiang Dusi, located in Hangzhou, claimed that the war in the East China Sea was actually an operation by the Haihan people to cooperate with the guards to kill local pirates, and several heads of the bandits were captured as evidence of this operation.

Yu Pingfeng was so angry that he tore up all the official documents copied to him and threw them away. He had been in the military for many years and he had many eyes and ears in the East China Sea. How could he not see that the people below were making up excuses to prevaricate him? Ningbo

Chang Guowei and Dinghaiwei have such an attitude, which only shows that the local commanders have most likely reached some kind of tacit understanding with the Haihan people. And the benefits they will get from this tacit understanding are probably that of Yu Pingfeng

The part that was cheated by the Haihan people is among them.

Although Yu Pingfeng has the power to issue orders to the local garrison in the name of Zhejiang Dusi, the real command power is still in the hands of the local garrison commander. Yu Pingfeng has nothing to do with the uncooperative attitude of the garrison in Ningbo.

Official means can be used immediately to suppress it. Even the Nanjing Ministry of War is not qualified to directly appoint and remove guards commanders. If you want to make a report, you still have to submit it to the northern capital. And when it comes to personnel appointments and removals, it is difficult to impeach without bloodshed to open up the joints.

It really works. Even if Yu Pingfeng is willing to spend this money, the operation will not be completed within two or three months, and the day lily will be cold by then.

The account with the Ningbo garrison must be settled, but not at this time. Yu Pingfeng's priority is how to expel the Haihan people from Zhoushan. The other issues are secondary issues. And his identity cannot directly launch a massacre.

If the provincial army goes to the East China Sea to attack Zhoushan, they can only adopt some other methods - for example, find some allies with similar interests, and then work together to deal with these outsiders who do not know whether to live or die.

It is not difficult to find people in this field. After all, there are many people who rely on the smuggling trade market in the East China Sea, including many powerful people in the local area. After Yu Pingfeng used his contacts to do some activities,

, and also gathered a group of like-minded people, planning to take action against Haihan. The people who came to Shanwei with him this time were two of them.

The identities of these two people are also from the officialdom. One is Liao Xun, a member of the Jinyi Guards family, and the other is Guo Zheng, the Zhejiang Provost and Inspector and the Zhejiang Military Bei Daoist. Before the arrival of the Haihan people, they also

Their respective households were profiting from smuggling trade in the East China Sea. The appearance of the Haihan people directly cut off their source of income, so they also hit it off with Yu Pingfeng and prepared to cooperate to deal with the Haihan people.

Although these three people are all military attachés, they don't have many troops that they can directly command and mobilize within their authority, so in the end they have to ask the generals who lead the troops to take charge of it. So the three people agreed on a date.

, they quietly set out to sea from Hangzhou Fushun Tianqian Tianjiang and arrived at Linshanwei, Shaoxing Prefecture. In order to prevent the matter from leaking to the wind prematurely, they did not bring any ceremonial guards. The three of them took a boat together and did not even bring their entourage with them after they landed ashore.

Entered Linshan Acropolis.

The reason why they came to Linshan Guard to find Wei Shan was because they knew that Wei Shan was also one of the beneficiaries of the smuggling trade in the East China Sea. Wei Shan was also involved in the business previously run by the Zhoushan Ship Gang. But the Zhoushan Islands have never

The geographical division is under the jurisdiction of Ningbo Prefecture, which makes it inconvenient for the Linshan Guards located in Shaoxing Prefecture to send troops to interfere in Zhoushan affairs, so Weishan did not take any action before this.

"Master Wei, I don't need to elaborate on the purpose of the three of us coming here, right?" After sitting down, Yu Pingfeng took the lead in introducing the main topic: "The Haihan people secretly hid weapons, organized armed forces, and captured the territory of the Ming Dynasty.

, this kind of behavior is tantamount to rebellion and must be put down as soon as possible."

Wei Shan grabbed the tea cup with one hand and did not respond immediately. Although the other party's official position was slightly higher than his, Wei Shan knew very well that he had the initiative now, and the other party wanted to use it.

To fool yourself with this kind of official talk is to underestimate Wei's mind.

Next to him, Guo Zheng saw that Wei Shan did not express his position, so he also advised: "Master Wei, guarding the territory is our bounden duty as warriors. Now that foreign enemies have invaded and the people are suffering, how can we ignore the imperial salary and pay? We should send troops as soon as possible."

, the only thing to do is to kill the Haihan gangsters."

Wei Shan then opened his mouth and responded: "What the two gentlemen said is true, but Zhoushan is under the jurisdiction of Ningbo Prefecture. Without the military order of the Zhejiang Dusi, I would not dare to go out at will and go across the prefecture. Of course, it is to protect the territory and the people.

It is my duty. If there is an order from the Commander-in-Chief, I will send troops to defend against the enemy."

It's not that Wei Shan doesn't want to deal with the Haihan people, but he also doesn't want to be blamed for disobeying military orders and using weapons without authorization. These guys don't have to go to the battlefield to fight. Of course they can use their words for a while, but they have to show up.

It is you who takes the blame for what you do and what happens afterwards. It would be okay if you can defeat the Haihan people. It is said that the Haihan people are as rich as the enemy, and they must have captured a lot. At least they can use the money to deal with the aftermath. But if they lose the battle, these three

This guy just slapped his ass and left. He had to shoulder all the responsibilities, and he might be dismissed from his job. From his point of view, the risk of provoking the Haihan people was really not small.

Yu Pingfeng thought to himself that if I have the commander's order, I don't have to sneak to Shaoxing to find you. I have already issued the order through official channels. The difficulty of this matter is that the internal opinions of Zhejiang Dusi are not unified.

Those who have benefited from it will wait and see or stand on the side of the Haihan people. Others, like him, suffered huge losses in the change of ownership in the East China Sea, and they will inevitably jump up and down to teach the Haihan people a lesson. The attitude of the commander is very clear.

, If you want to go to war, then plan your military expenses first. Once you have enough money, you can send out troops.

It is said that the Haihan people gathered thousands of people and hundreds of ships to capture Zhoushan Island. If the Ming army wants to capture Zhoushan, the number of troops they need to dispatch will probably not be less than this number. If an army of 10,000 people is dispatched

, it is necessary to reward the soldiers and prepare supplies and food. The departure cost alone will cost tens of thousands of taels of silver. In addition, such a large-scale cross-sea operation will definitely require a large-scale deployment of the navy, and the Yangtze River Navy is under the jurisdiction of the Nanjing War Department. This matter

Nanjing had to give its nod. The commander's meaning was very clear. Whoever wanted to attack should first mobilize the Nanjing Military Department, and by the way, the cost of managing the Military Department would also be borne.

This is not because the commander is timid, but he does have lessons learned from the past. During the Jiajing period, Zhu Wan and Lu Wei eliminated the pirates and smugglers in Shuangyu Port, and it took them three months to pacify the entire Zhoushan. However, due to the infringement of

The interests of the landlords and gentry were later jointly impeached by the officials and censors. In the end, Zhu Wan committed suicide unjustly, and Lu Boring was also sentenced to death.

If the Haihan people fight with the Zhoushan locals, no matter what the reason is, it is a private fight between the people. Whoever wins and who loses is a private matter. But if the government and the army intervene, the nature of the matter will change, and the commander will not be willing to go there.

This is a pool of muddy water, so as not to be impeached later on with charges such as "acting in a cunning manner, specializing in killing and provoking provocations."

With the commander in the middle and Xini, Yu Pingfeng and others naturally could not order the border defense stations to send troops to attack Haihan in the name of Zhejiang Dusi. What Wei Shan said was reasonable, but to Yu Pingfeng's ears, it should be

I'm bargaining with myself on terms.

"Master Wei, we are all our own people here, so let's open the skylight and speak frankly. The Haihan people have occupied Zhoushan, and everyone has lost their way of making money. Only by driving them away can we return to good times." Yu Pingfeng was unwilling to do so.

After talking in circles with Wei Shan, he simply explained what he said.

Wei Shan put down the teacup in his hand and responded in a deep voice: "Since Mr. Yu said it so straightforwardly, I should also say it bluntly. With the strength of the Linshan Guards, there is no way to fight the Haihan people. Even if you bite the bullet and fight,

, and can’t beat them.”

Guo Zheng asked: "Why did Mr. Wei say this?"

Wei Shandao: "You only think that the Haihan people are a group of armed merchants, but this is not the case. They came all the way from Fujian. Do you think that with just a few merchant ships, they can capture Zhoushan Island, which Wang Jialin has been operating for nearly 20 years?"

According to the situation known to the officials, the Haihan people came with a large-scale armed fleet. This fleet was made up of warships rather than merchant ships as you imagine. There were even giant gunboats with more than a thousand materials. This Linshan Guard

There are currently no navy warships stationed, and the largest troop transport ship only costs 200 tons. How can they compete with the Haihan people? The commanders of Ningbo Guanhaiwei and Changguowei are not fools. They really have an advantage to take advantage of. They are just afraid

We have already been here, why do we need to wait for the order from Zhejiang Dusi!"

Wei Shan's words are indeed very straightforward. The Ming army in the Linhai prefectures did not turn a blind eye to what happened in the East China Sea, but they knew that they were not strong enough and could not change the direction of the situation even if they wanted to intervene.

And maybe if you don't eat the meat, you'll get aroused. When it's obvious that you can't defeat the Haihan people, pretending to be deaf is actually a wise way to protect yourself. And these three people are all from Hangzhou, so for

Not fully understanding the situation in the East China Sea, it was inevitable that they would have the illusion that they could use force to drive away the Haihan people and bring the Zhoushan Islands back under their control.

"Then what Master Wei means is that by gathering the power of Shaoxing and Ningbo, we may not be able to defeat the Haihan people?" Yu Pingfeng also realized that the matter might not be as simple as he thought, and it would not be able to be solved smoothly with simple and crude means.

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