This group of pirates was pursued and suppressed by the government troops, and suffered casualties along the way.
When they arrived in Chun'an County, Yanzhou, there were only about sixty people left. Forced by the pursuit, they traveled over the mountains and ridges day and night, and entered She County to kill Jiangsu Province.
The government urgently mobilized soldiers from Jiangsu to guard the city. In Jingde, Dian Shi Cai Yao led more than a thousand local militiamen to meet the enemy. However, the pirates broke through the blockade again, looted outside the south gate and fled. Then in Jing County, they defeated the pirates again.
The magistrate Qiu Shiyong came to encircle and suppress the army.
On July 13, these dozens of pirates arrived in Nanling County. The defenders and civilians fled. The pirates easily captured the county seat and burned, killed and looted the city again. At this time, Jianyang commanded Liao Yin and became the Prime Minister of Tu County.
Guo Gengjiao, Chen Yiyi, the prime minister of Wuhu County, and Guo Zhang, the governor of Taiping Prefecture, respectively led troops to reinforce and encountered the pirates outside the east gate of the county.
The two sides fought head-on. Liao Yin and others drew their bows and fired. The pirates were short of arrows, so they took over the arrows from the official army and reflected them. Just like this, dozens of pirates were killed and all the troops were defeated. Chen Yiyi led the troops alone.
If you fight hard but fail, you will eventually be killed.
After leaving Nanling, the pirates fled to Wuhu, but were resisted by local civilians. They had to retreat eastward, diverted to Taiping Mansion, and entered Jiangning Town. Zhu Xiang was ordered to lead hundreds of warriors to guard. The pirates took advantage of the situation.
Be prepared and launch a sneak attack suddenly.
Zhu Xiang and others were unaware of the enemy's situation and were hijacked while they were having a drinking and carnival. Zhu Xiang fought hard and was shot several times before his horse fell to his death. More than 300 officers and soldiers died, and they were all annihilated by dozens of pirates.
The pirates fought all the way to the gate of Nanjing and passed outside the Ande Gate with great force. For a while, people in the city were panicked, but no one dared to go out of the city to meet them.
The whole city of Nanjing was in an uproar, and both the army and the people were frightened. However, there were only about fifty Japanese pirates. At that time, the number of Ming troops guarding Nanjing was 120,000. Zhang Shiche, the Secretary of the Ministry of War in the capital, and Chen Zhu, the Minister of War, stayed behind closed doors and did not dare to send troops. Instead, the citizens were ordered to voluntarily
Prepare food and equipment, and go to the city to guard.
The pirates who demonstrated under Nanjing City plundered Liyang and Xuanxing all the way. When they heard that officers and soldiers appeared in Taihu Lake, they crossed Wujin and Wuxi, and traveled more than 180 miles day and night to reach Jishuguan.
At this time, the remnants of the Japanese pirates who had been besieging Hangzhou were not far from here, and the rendezvous was imminent.
At this time, Nanjing responded. Cao Bangfu, the governor of Nanjing, personally urged the deputy envoy Wang Chonggu to gather troops from all ministries, guard the main roads, and encircle and suppress him on all sides. After thrifty Dong Bangzheng, General Lou Yu led his troops to finally capture him in Taozhai Town.
The enemy was traced. The two armies joined forces to suppress the enemy and captured nineteen levels of the enemy. The pirates had just reached the end of their road. When they wanted to escape to Taihu Lake, they were intercepted by officers and soldiers along the way. They were caught up at Yanglin Bridge and all were annihilated.
In this way, the most amazing pirate team of a hundred people in history went on a rampage, killing and wounding 4,000 officials and civilians. Officials were killed in battle, including one censor, one county magistrate, two commanders, and two generals. After more than eighty days,
Finally its legendary journey came to an end.
Ding Yunyi said this and asked: "Your Majesty, do you think these Japanese pirates are Japanese or people of the Ming Dynasty?"
"Japanese pirates, of course they are Japanese." Chongzhen said in confusion.
Ding Yunyi smiled and said, "I think this is not entirely true. Judging from his experience in fighting, he is familiar with the people's conditions and geography, is good at concealment, can capture the weaknesses and psychology of the officers and soldiers, and is good at flexible guerrilla warfare. He is a foreigner who cannot understand the language and is not accustomed to the local environment.
And the others are all wearing yellow clothes and red caps. This is not the attire of Fusang people, so I think these so-called 'Japanese pirates' should be my subjects of the Ming Dynasty."
"What?" Chongzhen, Wang Chengen, Wu Zhi and others were shocked when they heard this: "Since I, a citizen of the Ming Dynasty, why do I still pretend to be a Japanese pirate?"
Ding Yunyi sighed: "Because the sea ban made it impossible for these coastal people to survive, they had to become pirates. And out of fear of harming their own families, they could only pretend to be pirates."
Chongzhen's brows furrowed tightly.
Wang Chengen also said on the side: "Your Majesty, in the first year of Longqing, our Ming Dynasty established Haicheng County in Yuegang. In the same year, Tu Zemin, the censor of the governor of Fujian, proposed to open a ban to allow private sea trade, but refused to trade with Japan, and finally got approval.
So from then on, Haicheng's Yuegang was the only legal port for overseas trade. And Jiangnan has always been the richest place, and there were few large-scale rebellions. When the city was open, the pirates turned to business, and when the city was banned, the
Businessmen turned into bandits..."
"If the city is open, the bandits will turn into merchants; if the city is closed, the merchants will turn into bandits." Chongzhen murmured these two sentences.
Ding Yunyi struck while the iron was hot: "The Japanese pirate rebellion gradually subsided under the pursuit and interception of famous generals such as Qi Jiguang and Yu Datao. At the same time, at the initiative of some officials, our Ming Dynasty began to relax the sea ban. This wise measure made it difficult to suppress long-term military operations.
The situation stabilized quickly, which even surprised some officials, and they realized more clearly the principle of "the rule of the city is to transform the pirates into businessmen". The enhancement of coastal defense forces and the relaxation of maritime bans are two ways to fundamentally solve the problem of Japanese pirates.
This is a necessary condition. The two should not conflict with each other, but are complementary to each other. Our Ming Dynasty’s strong coastal defense force is a guarantee for ensuring its own security and developing foreign trade, and smooth foreign trade will become an important driving force for our Ming Dynasty’s economic development.
.....”
Speaking of this, Ding Yunyi took a deep breath: "Therefore, banning the sea is not feasible. Only by opening up the sea can we ensure the unobstructed flow of our Ming Dynasty's sea territory, make the people return to the court, and make pirates extinct."
"Okay, well said!" Chongzhen raised his voice: "Ding Yunyi, you said it well. Only by opening up the sea can we ensure the unobstructed flow of our Ming Dynasty's sea, make the people return to the court, and eliminate pirates. I am very happy today.
I heard words today that I could not hear in the past. Fujian Governor Zou Weilian originally submitted a letter to restore the sea ban, and I approved it. But now it seems that I made a rash decision without careful investigation."
Wang Chengen and Wu Zhi were shocked. Your Majesty had to admit his mistake.
Chongzhen paid no attention to this, and finally put down the tea bowl in his hand: "It seems that to solve the problem of maritime disasters, the word 'forbidden' cannot be suppressed. For example, when Dayu controlled floods, he had to change 'forbidden' to 'shu'. This
Only then can we ensure that our Ming Dynasty will defend the sea!"
"Your Majesty is wise!" This time it was Ding Yunyi who said the word "wise" sincerely.
Chongzhen was very interested: "So sitting in the palace all day long, reading those memorials is of no use. I heard from King Ding of Tang Dynasty before that you were so outstanding, but I didn't quite believe it, so I wanted to see you.
Your thought once, I saw it right this time, I saw it right, you are very knowledgeable, very knowledgeable."
Ding Yunyi stood up and said respectfully: "I am ashamed of myself."
"You deserve it, you deserve it, of course you deserve it!" Chongzhen's voice suddenly became eager.