In the Seto Inland Sea in autumn and winter, a fleet of more than a dozen fortune ships descends the ocean current, as fast as a galloping horse. The sides of the ship's side are covered with flags of various colors, and the wind is spectacular, and a small tinkling brass bell hangs on the bow of the ship, and its sound can be heard from a distance.

It was nearly noon, a tall figure, with short sleeves and long skirts, and a red gauze hat, unable to see through the veil, this graceful woman was standing under the mainmast, looking far to the east, and her heart was full of contemplation.

An old man in gray walked into the red-robed woman, and said with a gloomy look in his eyes: "Girl, Zhao Goucai sent by Childe has already come to Hirado and colluded with Matsuura Takanobu, if nothing else, he should be here to deal with you." ”

The woman hesitated, shook her head, and looked worried: "My father's life and death are uncertain, in this case, my brother should save my father, but my brother is eager to save his father, and he has rebelled, and now he has broken through many towns in Suzhou and Hangzhou, and he is out of control." ”

The old man in gray glanced at the woman, and stopped talking.

The shipowner, Wang Zhi, was the first person in the East Asian maritime merchants, with many industries and amazing wealth, and repeatedly destroyed the Ming Court's maritime ban, and since Xu Hai was defeated and killed, it was natural that the Ming Court was the target of attack. Originally, Wang Zhiren was in the Japanese country, and his personal safety was guaranteed, but he valued love and righteousness, listened to slander, threw himself into the net, and was trapped in a cage, and his life and death were uncertain.

The woman's face gradually became gloomy, her eyes were full of melancholy, not only worried about her father's future, but also worried about her own fate, and at the same time felt ashamed of her brother Wang Ao's selfish behavior in the name of saving her father, and she was full of resentment for all kinds of atrocities committed by Ming Ting to destroy the coastal order by himself.

The old man in gray gritted his teeth and said: "Red lady, the situation is critical now, according to the old servant's idea, he will go straight to Yizhou, and there is a stronghold left by the old ship owner there, so that he may be able to receive the fleet to and from Siam, so that he can make a comeback." ”

The woman bowed slightly, but shook her head again, and said: "The matter has been out of control, my brother has invaded Suzhou and Hangzhou, destroyed many towns, and looted countless property. ”

In the sixteenth century, the maritime merchants, called maritime merchants, were actually pirates.

The old man in gray asked: "Then why do you want to go to Kyoto to find the lord of the Japanese country, this Japanese country is just a knife in our hands, if you come to the door in person, you will lose our face and lining, which is not a small damage to the old shipowner's business formed for decades." ”

The woman pondered for a moment, and then said slowly: "When the spring flowers bloom next year, the Ming Court will mobilize hundreds of thousands of troops to encircle and suppress the elder brother, and even if the troops in the hands of the elder brother can win, it will be difficult to defeat the endless Ming army." ”

The gray-clothed old man's face changed slightly, and he glanced at the woman. He is Wang Zhi's servant, an old man who watched Wang Ao and the Red Lady grow up, and he really doesn't want to see his brother and sister turn against each other, but he is loyal to Wang Zhi instead of the brother and sister, and now Wang Ao's behavior greatly threatens Wang Zhi's life, so he naturally wants to protect the safety of the Red Lady.

The woman said indifferently: "The strength in the hands of the elder brother is more than enough to defend, and the expansion is not effective, and most of the disciples on the southeast coast of the Ming people are weak and hypocritical people, even if they recruit enough idlers, they are just incompetent people who will be defeated in a battle, so where does the easy and cheap knife come from, do you need to say more?" ”

The woman's words didn't continue, but the old man in gray understood, and he followed Wang straight to the north and south.

How is it not clear that the guards on the southeast coast of the Ming Dynasty have long been vulnerable to a battle, and there seem to be a lot of them, but there are almost no elites. Most of the real elites of the Ming Dynasty are the family members of the generals, that is, private soldiers. In terms of bravery and hardship, it could not be compared with the samurai army of the Wa Kingdom. However, compared with the nine-sided elite of the Ming Dynasty, the samurai army of the Wa Kingdom was slightly deficient in the marching formation, and more importantly, the Wa State did not have an endless stream of strong generals. As long as the Ming Kingdom produces a strong general who has not been out for a hundred years, and then recruits and trains a group of strong soldiers who dare to fight and kill, then the guerrilla is not their opponent.

The gray-clothed old man glanced at the woman and asked quietly, "Can you convince Okayama's self-cutting strength?" ”

The woman was stunned, she remembered her first contact with the man who was the lord of Okayama and has now become the lord of the Wakoku, and knew that this was an unforgiving guy, and at the same time a figure from the Wakoku world, I am afraid it would be difficult to convince with words.

The woman slowly straightened up, looked ahead with blazing eyes, and said: "It's difficult, but this time I brought not only sincerity, but also practical benefits, that person is different from the short-sighted Japanese people, belongs to the eye-opening generation, a strong man with ambition and vision, it is reasonable to want to expand externally." If the Wa Kingdom wanted to expand externally, it undoubtedly had to go to the Ming Dynasty and Korea. ”

The old man in gray paused, looked at the woman seriously, and asked, "The girl also wants to coerce the Ming court into submission with heavy troops like Gongzi, I'm afraid it's difficult to make the trip, right?" You must know that the Ming Dynasty has always boasted that he does not get along, does not pay compensation, does not cut land, does not pay tribute, the Son of Heaven guards the country, and the king dies. ”

The woman didn't speak, but her expression was disapproving, obviously she didn't believe that Daming was exaggerating, but she still said a word, and said: "Now my father's life and death are uncertain, and it is difficult to detect where he is imprisoned, even if he wants to rob the prison, he can't figure it out?" It is indeed inappropriate for the elder brother to seek to rob his father's inheritance, but he has a good saying, if he is defeated, his father will die, if he is rampant, the Ming court is afraid that there will be some hesitation, and his father may not die. ”

The gray-clothed old man's expression was even more serious, he heard that the woman had already been in contact with Wang Ao's envoy, and the woman did not wait for the old man to ask, and said frankly: "Uncle, my brother took the opportunity of ravaging the southeast to grab a lot of wealth and acquiesce in his status. We were able to safely bring out more than a dozen ships from the Goto Islands, not because Zhao Gou was incompetent, but because I compromised with my brother. ”

The old man in gray stopped talking, thought about it for a while, and stopped continuing the topic. What the future holds, no one can say. He is Wang Zhi's servant, following Wang Zhi to the north and south, knowing that now Wang Zhi's life and death are uncertain, if he wants to force the Ming court not to dare to start, this is probably the only way. What's more, Wang Zhi's adopted son and daughter have reached a compromise, and it would be unwise to oppose it here.

The gray-clothed old man groaned for a while and said, "It's better to be cautious and not to be too optimistic, lest the horse stumble." ”

The woman bowed slightly, and was about to return to the cabin, when a mast appeared in the direction of the bow, and gradually a three-masted Daifuku ship with a thousand materials appeared, and the flags on both sides of the ship indicated that it was the ship of the Date family, the real owner of the Seto Inland Sea. There was even a small catapult on the ship, which was a catapult, but the bottom of the catapult was reinforced, leaving enough space for the main gun to be installed in the future, but hundreds of soldiers with arquebuses appeared densely near the side of the ship.

There were six small ships of fortune beside the three-masted ship, and most of the ships were soldiers armed with arquebuses and bows, and the woman's eyes were full of horror, and she turned back and said, "Uncle, if you look at their ships and the weapons on them, I am afraid they are not inferior to us." But I'm more confident in this line of work, and in just a few years I've almost dominated Honshu Island, and built such a fleet, even if I tell me that he doesn't want to expand, I don't believe his nonsense. ”

The old man in gray did not speak, and there was deep worry in his heart. He knew that the so-called Japanese plague was nothing more than a confrontation and struggle between the people's maritime forces and the agrarian dynasties, and that it was not misunderstood that the Japanese invaded China's coastal areas. However, this kind of thing may be rewritten in the near future, and there has been a powerful and ambitious person who wants to break into the ocean, and he has not only become the most powerful person in the Japanese country, but also likes new technologies, but also builds big ships, which will eventually become a problem for the Ming Dynasty.

At this time, a small fortune boat came out of the Date fleet, and one of them shouted loudly with a cylindrical object: "Stop the ship, stop the ship for inspection, all ships that have not been reported are not allowed to sail on the coastline of the Japanese country, and those who resist will be killed." ”

Hearing such an arrogant and domineering declaration, everyone in the fleet showed anger on their faces, they had always sailed straight through the Japanese country, as long as a bell was hung on the bow of the ship, even Mishima Murakami did not dare to stop it, and he never thought that this situation would be encountered today.

The gray-clothed old man's face was pale, and he was silent for a long time. The woman raised her hand, still with a smile on her face, and ordered someone to send a flag to lower the sails and stop the ship.

The captain of the Daifuku ship is none other than Shimamasori, one of the first to kneel and lick the Date family, Captain Kodera Saemon, and Miyazaki Michigen, and he is now the general of Yachigoku, leading a fleet to be stationed on Manabe Island, where Mashiro and Murakami Takeyoshi once had a grudge.

Today, he learned that there was a fleet on the waterway of Manabe Island, and the flag promulgated by the Date family was not hoisted, which means that it had not been reported at the Date family, which attracted his attention, and all of them came to "encircle and suppress" this unruly fleet.

A sailor on the mast of the Daifuku owner shouted: "Stop, stop!" ”

Shimamasori bowed slightly, and ordered cautiously: "Lean up and go to meet our guests." "The Ida's navy was not yet equipped with artillery, so it was natural to fight broadside, and with the help of the Daifuku ship and six ships with 500 soldiers, they walked sideways in the Seto Inland Sea. Of course, there were more than 500 soldiers, and when the situation was critical, the sailors were able to lift their weapons and go to the fight.

As a general of the Eight Thousand Stones, Shimamasatoshi owned a mansion in Okayama Castle, which was not as luxurious as the mansions of the generals and elders of the 10,000 koku or more, but it was also located in an area close to the commission, and he often lived in Okayama Castle before coming to Manabejima.

When Dao Zhengli first saw the visitor, his face tightened slightly, and he muttered: "It turned out to be a Tang person." The farther away from Kyushu Island, the more he called the people from the Ming Dynasty or the honorific title of Tang Ren, he had never seen a woman, but there was a trace of ecstasy on his face.

Sailing on the sea, Shimamasori has a much broader vision than the samurai who only know how to fight and kill, knowing that Date Masaki's shipbuilding was to deal with Mishima Murakami from the beginning, especially Murakami Takeshi of Noshima, and later dominated the Seto Inland Sea, and still did not stop shipbuilding, which made him vaguely guess Date Masaki's true thoughts. When he was in Okayama Castle, he listened to Zhengheng's yearning for the Ming Dynasty more than once, thus misunderstanding Zhengheng's true intentions.

As a traverser, Zhengheng will naturally mention Daming inexplicably, and his face can't help but reveal some yearning It is also human nature, but it makes many people misunderstand his intentions, and Island Zhengli is obviously one of them. This made him often pay attention to the merchant ships coming and going, with the help of figuring out the situation of the Ming Dynasty, and often delivering the written information about the Ming Dynasty when the transport ship arrived. However, in the past half a year, there are almost no fleets from the Ming Kingdom.

Now, a group of ships from the Ming Dynasty appeared in the Seto Inland Sea, and he stopped the whereabouts, if you can know something about the Ming Dynasty from their mouths, and present it to the lord, you will definitely be able to gain the lord's favor. Although it is impossible to obtain the seal because of this, it is also good to be able to keep it in the heart of Zhengheng with this merit. Now that the Date family is getting stronger and stronger, there are more and more samurai who are serving them, and if they don't show their faces more, they are afraid that they will be forgotten.

A few days later, Masahiro received a report from Masashi Shimashima from Manabe Island, and when he saw a name in the report, his eyebrows furrowed slightly, and he muttered in a low voice: "Red lady, why is she here again, she still brought so many ships." ”

He was a little skeptical about what the purpose of this red lady was here. On that day, he took the red lady away, and today the red lady came again, and the one who came was not good. However, he has been dealing with the affairs of Kyoto, and the last time he knew the news of Daming was half a year ago, and it was still some broken things about old rice and rotten grain.

Zhengheng thought about it, but still wrote the word "can" in the report of the island Zhengli, and approved the request of the island Zhengli to take the red lady and others to Beijing. He really wants to know some first-hand information about the Ming Dynasty, and he may be able to hear some of the recent events from the mouths of the red lady and the entourage.

Although Zhengheng does not have any sense of identity with the Ming Dynasty, it does not represent his yearning, he often pays attention to the affairs of the Ming Dynasty, shipbuilding is for trade, and he never intends to conquer the Ming Dynasty by force.

The development of the Ming Dynasty still has nearly 90 years of life, counting the words of the Southern Ming Dynasty and nearly 100 years, the history of the Ming Dynasty is limited to this, I really don't know that the Ming Dynasty at this time is constantly suffering from internal and external troubles, the domestic situation continues to deteriorate, traitors are everywhere, the northern Tatars often enter and loot, the emperor and the center in order to resist the Tatars, the elite of the country is almost empty, and the southeast coast is raging.

So what is the situation in the Ming Dynasty in front of you? Zhengheng didn't know, but he saw some problems from the arrival of the red lady, his brows were slightly locked, things were a little unreasonable, and a trace of sorrow flashed in his eyes. (To be continued.) )