Extra chapter sailing (for the leader, I am an analyst
It was the third day of the second lunar month in the eighth year of the founding of the People's Republic of China.
Chang'an.
In the side hall, only Li Xia and a short but strong general were talking.
Li Xia was talking most of the time.
"When Emperor Lizong of the Song Dynasty was overthrown, the Song Dynasty assigned Penghu Island to Jinjiang County on Fujian Road, but its understanding of Liuqiu was limited. Therefore, people like Zhao and Chen always thought that Liuqiu could not support the establishment they wanted. This time Liu Mengyan both
After they have been defeated, you will lead the navy to put Ryukyu under the jurisdiction of Fujian Road. You will garrison the army and cooperate with the local officials. Money, food, and materials have been prepared, so there is no need to raise additional funds, which saves the ministers of the DPRK and China.
We are going to cry for poverty again. Among the more than 40,000 people who have been settled on the island, there are thousands of people from the Zhao and Song clans. They all want to go where they want to go. I am not treating them harshly. You should treat them carefully and don't cause trouble... Here you go,
I’m afraid I won’t be able to come back if I don’t have ten years.”
"Open up the territory and expand the territory, and I will have no regrets even if I die."
"Boats are a problem."
Speaking of this, Li Xia frowned slightly.
In the past, he had two trade routes, one was to go out of the Hexi Corridor and take the Overland Silk Road; the other was to take the Ancient Tea Road from Yunnan.
Now that the world is unified, the overland Silk Road cannot be traveled.
Because when he and Kublai Khan were fighting against each other, the sea in the west had taken advantage of the situation to rise. When he fought fiercely in the Central Plains, Haidu captured Hara and Lin; when he conquered the Song Dynasty in the south, Haidu and Wu
The conflict between Lu Hunai became more and more intense.
When the dynasty was first established, it was hard to say whether to support Uluru Hunai in fighting this war. Anyway, within a few years, trade routes would be difficult to pass.
Li Xia then turned his attention to the sea.
After decades of war, the country is riddled with holes, the population is depleted, and the fields are barren. Without decades of rest and recuperation, how can we accomplish a series of feats?
Only great voyages.
Three hundred years in advance, he personally led this great geographical discovery and used the world's material resources to complete the plan.
No matter how much you think about it, you first need a ship, and a big one.
Therefore, the first thing Li Xia did after he was granted a title was to send his closest old subordinates to the coast, in addition to the navy generals, such as Han Qi'an, Nie Zhongyou, Liu Jinsuo, Li Zhaocheng, Lin Zi, etc.
, assisting them were the smartest officials such as Qin Jiushao and Liu Mengyan. They all went to Zhejiang, Guangxi, Fujian, and Shandong.
Today I also sent Jiang Cai to Liuqiu.
"There must be enough ships. I want you to build a shipping department in Ryukyu City, shipbuilding, trade, and ship shipping to Silla, Japan, Dashi and other places."
Jiang Cai listened silently and finally asked: "I dare to ask Your Majesty if you intend to take Japan?"
He paused briefly, then added another sentence.
"The reason for this speculation is because of the names of some fiefdoms, such as Mrs. Tagawa County."
Li Xia shook his head and said: "You can't be in a hurry if you want to take it. Let's first teach the soldiers what is the advantage of taking a barren island. Is it gold or silver? Or is it population? Secondly, it is difficult to march by sea. Even if you land, the other
The roads are difficult and the customs are unfamiliar... In short, we cannot fight an unprepared battle. After all, we haven't even conquered Korea yet."
"I understand." Jiang Cai responded: "I will build ships in Liuqiu, train troops, suppress bandits, and send more people into the caravan to learn about the customs."
At this time, Guan De entered the palace and reported: "Your Majesty, Su Liuyi and Liu Shiyong are here."
"Call."
After a while, two more navy generals entered the palace.
If Li Xia had just said that sending Jiang Cai to Liu to ask for help was a big deal, now his expression became truly serious.
He picked up several memorials and asked Guande to pass them to the three generals for review.
"Let's take a look first."
Jiang Cai, the newly appointed envoy for Liu Qiu's comfort, took the lead in picking up one letter and opened it to read.
I saw that it was a memorial from an official named "Pu Shougeng", who was obviously a minister of the Song Dynasty. He served as Chengjie Lang and was promoted to the Chief Shipping Officer of Quanzhou City.
Pu Shougeng said that pirates were rampant along the coast of Fujian and the Song Dynasty was unable to control them, so that "the pirates had been pirates for many years, and the people suffered from them. Yunhe fled, and all of them were worth a hundred." The suppression of bandits in Fujian was quite effective, but Marshal Liu was not good at water warfare, so the Quanzhou Navy assisted the Zhangwu Army in defeating the pirates.
This is a mediocre memorial.
But on the memorial, the four words "Quanzhou Navy" were circled, followed by seven small characters marked by the emperor in pencil.
——Private armed forces, also warlords.
Because of this mark, Jiang Cai felt a chill in his heart. He looked at each other and exchanged memorials with Su Liuyi.
This letter was the latest one sent by Liu Mengyan, with very little content.
"I was ordered to supervise Fujian, but the Pu family in Quanzhou had a fortune of tens of thousands, a family of thousands of children, and had been in charge of the coastal shipping for thirty years. It was like a country within a country, not a place under the jurisdiction of Xing Yushitai."
After just one sentence, Jiang Cai's eyelids twitched.
Not long ago, he heard about the means by which Liu Mengyan captured Wang Gangzhong, the pacifier of Fujian, and killed Zhao Yulu, King Xiu of the Song Dynasty. At this time, Liu Mengyan said that he could not supervise the Pu family.
If Liu Mengyan hadn't deliberately framed him, the words "a country within a country" would have been enough for His Majesty to raid the Pu family.
Jiang Cai took a few more memorials and looked at them.
Most of them were local civil and military officials praising the Quanzhou Shipping Department envoy Pu Shougeng for sending navy to defeat the pirates and asking for credit. Among them, Liu Jinsuo also reported this.
"A few generals, and this."
Guande brought another box over, which contained some information from the Public Opinion Department.
"Pu Shougeng's ancestor Bai Fan was a noble man who originally occupied the city. After floating on the sea and encountering a storm, he was afraid of returning, so he asked his master to stay in China to bring the goods. He originally lived in Guangzhou and later moved to Quanzhou. , has been engaged in maritime trade for generations. Pu's house became more and more extravagant and exceeded the prohibition. When the officials asked about it, they said that they were not from our country, so they did not ask about it. They became more majestic and magnificent, expanded and expanded, and became rich and prosperous for a while..."
In this information, we can also see some small words marked by the emperor in pencil, such as "his ancestors are Arabs" and "his nature is cunning".
Later on, you can even see the content summarized by the emperor himself. The wording is somewhat unclear, but you can more or less guess the meaning.
"The Pu family was both an official and a businessman. He used his power to operate maritime trade and monopolized the spice trade for decades. To gain profits, he built a Wangyun Tower on the coast of Quanzhou to collect commercial taxes from merchant ships entering and leaving the port. He had thousands of private soldiers and five There are hundreds of medium-sized merchant ships and dozens of twelve-sail giant ships... It is said that 'the people's situation is difficult, so we can only build ten three-masted merchant ships'."
Jiang Cai read it, silently put down the information in his hand, looked at each other with Su Liuyi and Liu Shiyong, and waited for Li Xia's order.
Copy the Pu family's will.
Li Xia did not issue an order immediately, but said: "Have you read it? I'm worried that you don't understand what I mean, so I have to make it clear first."
"Your Majesty, please listen attentively."
"I am not the Great Khan of the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty who indulged the princes and governed the world like cattle, so I do not allow the existence of a 'state within a state'. I am not a weak Song Dynasty who can be bullied and can be manipulated by anyone, so I do not allow officials to use their power for personal gain. Put all the national tariffs into the pockets of each household, and do not allow wealthy businessmen to interrupt the entire trade and prevent ordinary people from going to the sea."
Su Liuyi added: "Pu Shougeng is also guilty of deceiving the emperor."
"Pu is guilty, but the prosperity of Quanzhou Port cannot be destroyed." Li Xia said: "I hope you can go and cure Pu Shougeng's crime for me, but you can't hurt the maritime merchants. Today is not a normal maritime merchant because he is sitting on the sea
The ship made me want to seize it, but the Pu family used their authority as an official to seize the family's personal interests, but committed a serious crime against the country. In a word, the Pu family will perish, but maritime trade will flourish."
"Your Majesty's words will be kept in mind."
"Su Liuyi, you are a Jinshi and have managed local affairs. I am sending you here and hope that you can run the Quanzhou Port well."
"..."
After the three people were tested on some questions, Li Xia ordered: "Publish the decree and appoint Jiang Cai as an envoy for Liu Qiu's pacification system; appoint Liu Shiyong as the commander of the Zhangzhou Navy and deputy coastal defense envoy; summon Pu Shougeng to the court as the Ministry of War.
Shilang, change Su Liuyi to know Quanzhou, and promote Quanzhou City Shipping Secretary."
"I obey your orders."
Li Xia also issued a sealing order to Su Liuyi.
Finally, he said: "Remember, although Jiangnan is settled, it is not the end of the Tang Navy. On the contrary, this is the beginning of the Tang Navy's conquest of the world."
The three navy generals saluted again, solemnly bid farewell to the king, and exited the side hall.
~~
Li Xia sat alone in the hall and continued to open the memorial.
It is still related to coastal naval affairs.
A letter came from Li Zhaocheng and Navy General Zhang Gui in Laizhou, Shandong Province, saying that a giant sea pirate named Li De took the initiative to surrender with 20,000 men and offered 700 large and small ships.
According to the newspaper, although Li De was a pirate, he was quite righteous. During the Tang army's Northern Expedition, he led his troops to attack the Yuan army many times.
Put together with the memorial about Pu Shougeng that I read before, it can be seen that there are all kinds of people in this world.
Li Xia had reviewed the memorials of the Shandong Navy, and picked up another one, which was handed over by Zhang Shun, the admiral of the Jiangdong Navy... because these memorials were divided into categories.
"Your Majesty Zhang Shun reports that Zhu Qing from Chongming in western Zhejiang and Zhang Xuan from Jiading in Pingjiang have gathered thousands of people and more than 500 ships to occupy Zhoushan and the Shengsi Islands, and have robbed wealthy households along the coast and merchants at sea.
After more than ten years, the Song Dynasty could not control it, so I asked you to punish it..."
At the back is a more detailed strategy and a drawing.
After Li Xia looked at it carefully, he picked up the imperial pen and ticked it.
Today, he did this a few times, as if the coast would be peaceful, and even becoming an emperor seemed easy.
In fact, he found things getting harder and harder to do.
When I went north, when I was in Qingfu County, I did small things and could see progress every day. Now that I have become the emperor, I am detained in this palace to approve a decree, but it often takes months or even years to wait for the result.
.
He didn't know whether the raid on Pu's family would lead to a business trip and whether it would destroy the prosperity of Quanzhou Port; he didn't know whether the Shandong Navy could be reorganized smoothly after recruiting pirates; he didn't know what would happen if Zhang Shun went to sea.
And all of this, compared to his expectations for the great voyage, can only be regarded as the preparation stage...
~~
The fifth day of September.
Quanzhou, south of the city.
The Pu family's mansion covers an area of more than 300 acres, extending to Tumen Street in the east, Xiting in the west, Jinjiang in the south, and Tushan in the north. The layout is magnificent, with pavilions and pavilions scattered in an orderly manner.
The most famous thing in Pu Mansion is the Chessboard Garden.
The chessboard garden is a hundred steps long from east to west and sixty steps wide from north to south.
There are thirty-two attics on the sides, and in the middle is a huge chessboard with grids. On both sides of the chessboard, there is a tall pavilion.
"Please, Mr. Su."
Pu Shougeng raised his hand, led Su Liuyi through the path, pointed to a pavilion, and said: "How about Mr. Su holding the red chess piece?"
Su Liuyi asked: "Pugong has not recovered from his illness, how can he still play such a big game?"
There seemed to be some other meaning in these words, because after Pu Shougeng received the imperial edict, he claimed to be ill and refused to go to Chang'an to serve as an official.
"Playing chess is no better than traveling long distances, I can still bear it."
"Of course that's great, please."
Su Liuyi then turned around and boarded the east pavilion, while Pu Shougeng went the other way and boarded the west pavilion.
The view from the pavilion is quite good, but when I looked around, I saw only an empty chessboard and no chess pieces.
Not far from the pavilion, a Pufu servant stood, turning around and saluting Su Liuyi.
"I have met my husband. I am a chess player. My husband only needs to give instructions to me when playing chess."
"Okay, how can we not see the chess pieces?"
"My lord, please wait a moment."
The chess player turned around, raised the chess piece, and shouted: "Play the chess piece."
There was the sound of a piano, and thirty-two women were seen walking out of the thirty-two attics on the side.
Su Liuyi's eyes did not change and he just said a dull sentence.
“As expected of the famous chessboard garden.”
The attendants behind him were stunned and narrowed their eyes.
I saw half of the thirty-two women wearing pink gauze and half wearing green gauze. Their snow-white skin was looming, and all of them were young and beautiful.
They lined up one by one, but each stood on the huge chessboard.
The attendants then moved their eyes away from those elegant waists and fell on the bamboo sieves above their heads. They saw "Generals, Soldiers, Elephants, Chariots, Horses, Cannons, Pawns" and so on.
"Tsk, tsk, what a wealthy businessman who is so rich that he can enjoy such things, he shouldn't be a prince."
Su Liuyi's eyes turned cold and he murmured: "This is exactly what this person said about Quanzhou's 'people's conditions are difficult'."
Just seeing that these thirty-two women were all of the same stature, he knew what kind of person Pu Shougeng was opposite him, let alone others.
Thinking of this, he was not polite and went ahead to play chess.
"Two cannons equal five."
The chess player then shouted: "Two cannons equal five!"
On the chessboard, a woman wearing pink gauze walked casually.
Soon there was a shout from the pavilion opposite.
"Horse eight into seven!"
Gradually, the chessboard turned pink and green, which was really beautiful.
…
"Horse two into three!"
Hearing the shouts from the pavilion opposite, Pu Shougeng casually said, "The car is nine and eight", and then he knocked on the table with some anxiety and spoke to his son Pu Shiwen in Arabic.
"Su Liuyi's coming is not a good one."
"It's not that the new monarch wants to recruit our ships." Pu Shiwen said, "These Easterners always think that it is natural for a monarch to ask for property from his subjects. Oh my god, it is so shameless."
"Cannon eight draws nine." Pu Shougeng glanced at the chessboard, explained the chess moves in Chinese, and sighed in his native language: "Yes, although the country is prosperous, I still can't get used to it after three generations. You know, in our hometown
, I simply will not accept such a unilateral and rude request. Today's monarch is much more rude than the monarch named Zhao in the past. He violated the will of God, and I already have a reason to resist him."
Pu Shougeng's tone was very cold.
He is different from any official of Zhao and Song Dynasties. He will not care about the rules of the monarch and his ministers, or even the strength of the enemy or ourselves.
Once his most fundamental interests are touched, no matter how powerful the Tang Dynasty is, he will not hesitate to rebel with force.
The worst case scenario is to leave Quanzhou with your belongings.
For example, today, he lured Su Liuyi away so that he could successfully mobilize more private soldiers from overseas.
They were still playing chess here, and a servant from behind hurriedly caught up, leaned in Pu Shougeng's ear, and said in a mysterious tone: "Alang, the warship has docked."
"That's good, let them dress up as pirates and do it."
Pu Shougeng raised his head and looked at Su Liuyi in the pavilion opposite. His eyes were very disdainful and he said: "This so-called official of the Tang Dynasty is probably still intoxicated with these wonderful chess pieces, but he never thought that this would be his last time."
He seemed so aloof.
It's as if he is not a businessman, but the king of this empire.
"Three pawns advance into one."
"..."
On the big chessboard, two beautiful "chess pieces" collided together, making a cooing sound.
And the two people playing chess continued.
It was as if he was deliberately causing trouble and wanted them to collide and end up in trouble.
As a result, there are fewer and fewer women wearing red and green gauze.
suddenly.
A cry of surprise came from the distance.
"Pirates are coming to town!"
"Pirates! The pirates are coming..."
Pu Shougeng laughed, pointed at Su Liuyi, and said, "He lost."
"Haha, these officials only care about enjoying themselves and have even forgotten to check the customs and defense."
"Let someone kill him. Su Xianggong died heroically in order to defeat the pirates..."
At this time, a shout suddenly sounded from the pavilion opposite.
That was the voice of the chess player.
"Pu Shougeng's collusion with pirates is an unforgivable crime. Take it down! Anyone who dares to resist will be killed without mercy!"
Pu Shougeng was stunned for a moment.
He squinted his eyes and saw someone holding a knife on the chess player's neck on the opposite side.
And the huge chessboard was filled with more women’s cries.
"Take it!"
The sound of dense footsteps came from the front yard, and private soldiers of the Pu family rushed forward to stop them.
"boom!"
"boom!"
The screams continued one after another, and groups of officers and soldiers rushed in, shooting these private soldiers mercilessly.
Pu Shougeng was startled, and after taking a few steps backward, he fell to the ground.
"How...how...where are my people? Where are my people on the sea?!"
He had completely lost his aloof attitude just now and was trembling with fear.
The Pu family lived in the Song Dynasty for decades, receiving great favor from the emperor, being worshiped by the people, studying Confucian classics, and never let go of their arrogance, but it was completely shattered in this moment of chaos.
"Ms. Su, I was wronged! I never colluded with pirates...I really didn't..."
Across the pavilion, Pu Shougeng was wailing endlessly, showing no ruthlessness as before.
~~
"Rook eight into five, general...I won."
Su Liuyi murmured again, not looking at the killing under the pavilion, but asked his entourage: "Do you know what I hate most about him? It's not that he withholds customs duties, violates prohibitions and exceeds regulations, conceals ships, or even feeds him
A private soldier who deceives the king and ignores his superiors."
"what is that?"
"He can come to our land and assimilate with us. But when he enjoys the benefits, he openly acts as our official, but when he is asked to perform some of his responsibilities, he starts mentioning his bullshit customs! Come on!
You are so rich and noble, but you still dare to think of escaping a heinous crime of death, you should be killed!"
Su Liuyi suddenly opened his eyes, filled with murderous intent...