Three days later, the Ming Navy turned south and headed towards Xiaoliuqiu Island. Although there may be some Japanese pirates in the Amami Islands in the north, the Japanese pirates who robbed Daming grain ship two months ago went south and did not return. Li Wei decided to make the small moves to the big ones to resolve the situation where the Japanese pirates had long occupied Xiaoliuqiu Island.

Xiaoliuqiu Island is the island of Taiwan in later generations. Before the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, it was under the jurisdiction of the Penghu Inspection Department. In the second year of Hongwu, the Ming Dynasty, which had just been established for a year, began to implement a strict national policy of maritime ban. The Penghu Inspection Department was abolished, and all the soldiers and civilians on the Penghu Islands moved inward. The Ming Dynasty officially gave up Xiaoliuqiu Island. At this moment, the great adventure in Europe has not yet emerged. The dispute between Japan and the Southern and Northern Dynasties was in full swing, and Japanese pirates did not appear on a large scale. Goryeo's ambition was to seize land in Liaodong. Most of the countries in the South and Oceans such as Luzon were mostly barbaric lands. Xiaoliuqiu Island was also lucky to be isolated overseas for decades without being taken in by other countries. It has been occupied by sporadic Japanese pirates and pirates, becoming their base for harassing the mainland.

At this time, in addition to Japanese pirates and pirates, there were also many indigenous residents and nearly 20,000 fishermen who fled from the mainland. Perhaps because of the need for supplies, the Japanese pirates did not slaughter these fishermen, but instead blackmailed them high amounts of fish and food, or ordered them to provide labor and build docks or houses, while the indigenous people lived in mountainous areas and could not see them in the coastal areas.

That night, a small boat quietly docked outside a small fishing village called Nanshe. Three black shadows jumped off the boat and pulled the boat into a crack in a reef to hide it.

"Lin Chao, is your home here?"

"It's right here, my family is at the east end of the village, come with me."

Three people quickly ran to the small fishing village in the distance. Lin Chao of the three was Chen Wanli's subordinate. His ancestors were originally a Fujian fisherman and later moved to the Penghu Islands. In the second year of Hongwu, after the Ming Dynasty issued a sea ban, his grandfather led his family to Xiaoliuqiu Island, which has been 22 years since then.

The small fishing village is filled with a faint mist, and rows of low and dilapidated huts show the difficulties of fishermen's life. There are more than 30 fishermen living in the small fishing village. Most of them escaped from the coast of Fujian or the Penghu Islands like the Lin family. For decades, they have almost been isolated from the mainland. Although there is no shortage of food, the lack of materials has forced them to obtain expensive daily necessities from smugglers, or men ploughing and women weaving, pinching soil and burning basins, and living a primitive and simple life.

In a single life, there was no shackles of the government in the past few years. Although life was difficult, life was still happy and carefree. However, ten years after Hongwu, the Japanese pirates took a fancy to this Ming jewelry island that was abandoned by the Ming Dynasty. Japanese pirates flocked to them. When the Japanese pirates first climbed the island, fishermen rose up to resist, and killings continued to happen. However, as time went by, the two sides gradually reached a compromise. The Japanese pirates no longer slaughtered fishermen, but the fishermen had to hand over 40% of the harvest to the Japanese pirates as supplies.

Time passed year by year, and the fishermen lived hard under the double exploitation of smugglers and Japanese pirates. Many people began to find another way out. It was under this background that Lin Chao came to Luzon to make a living two years ago and became the younger brother of Luzon smuggler Chen Wanli.

The three of them ran along a low slope to a cliff and hid. They were less than fifty steps away from Lin Chao's house. They could vaguely see faint lights in the small window of Lin Chao's house.

"In the past, Japanese pirates often came to the village to find trouble, so we must be careful." Lin Chao observed carefully for a while, and then said to the two: "You are waiting here, I'll go home and take a look first."

After Lin Chao finished speaking, he penetrated into the weeds that were as tall as a night rat and ran quickly to the house. Suddenly, a barking came from a distance, and then calmed down again. After a while, two Ming army scouts saw Lin Chao waving to them, and they ran over quickly.

"The Japanese pirates came during the day, and they had already left at night. There is no problem now." Lin Chao led the two into the house. The house was made of mud. The house was dim and looked dilapidated. Only the place near the stove was shining. There were firelights sitting next to the stove. They were Lin Chao's parents. The difficulties of life torture them to aging. His father was dark and thin, and his back was a little hunched. He looked at the two Ming army scouts with vigilance. His mother was a gray-haired old woman. There were tears of reunion in her eyes, and she held a piece of cloth that Lin Chao brought to her in her hand.

Lin Chao hurriedly introduced the two of them to his father, "Dad, this is Zeng Baihu, this is Brother Liu, both of them are soldiers of the Ming Dynasty."

The two scouts looked at each other and saluted the old couple together, "Two old men, we are the Ming army scouts, and we are here to Ryukyu Island to eliminate the Japanese pirates, and we have no malice to the people."

It is normal for fishermen on Xiaoliuqiu Island to be vigilant against the Ming army. They had escaped from the Ming Dynasty. According to the Ming Dynasty's criminal laws, they should be executed. Therefore, when fishermen were oppressed by Japanese pirates in recent years and were looking for a way out, they either considered escaping into the mountains or emigrating to Luzon. However, no household had ever thought about returning to the Ming Dynasty. Everyone knew that they would die when they returned. This time, Li Weizheng led the Ming army to Xiaoliuqiu Island to eliminate the Japanese. In addition to understanding the situation on the island, it is also an important matter to relieve the fishermen's worries, so as not to be motivated by Japanese pirates and participate in the ranks of the resistance of the Ming army.

Perhaps because of his son's face, Lin's father's face calmed slightly. He pointed to two piles of firewood and said, "Sit down!"

The fishermen and farmers on the coast of Fujian are slightly different. They often go out to sea and see some worlds. They can say a few words of official words. Although his accent is very heavy, the two Ming soldiers can barely understand it. They sat down and asked again: "Dad Lin, are there Japanese pirates nearby?"

"There is no settlement here. They came by boat to collect fish from us. They used to come once every ten days, but only six days have been here twice, and their lives are not easy!"

The old man said it very slowly and was difficult to speak. The two scouts almost understood it after listening and guessing. Finally, Lin Chao asked Lin Chao to add a sentence at the key point. The hundred-household surnamed Zeng nodded and asked again: "We heard that the Japanese pirates are mainly concentrated in the coastal areas near the Penghu Islands. Is this still the case now?"

Things are more important, Lin Chao specially translated to his father, but Dad Lin shook his head and said, "That happened three months ago. Last month, I heard from the second son who was fishing in the sea and said that they moved, and I don't know where they moved."

Zeng Baihu was surprised. According to their information, the largest stronghold of the Japanese pirates should be directly opposite the Penghu Islands, a place called Houshu Port. Most fishermen know that if they move, the Ming army will be second to lose. If they alarm the Japanese pirates and escape after hearing the news, that would be the failure of the mission. The matter has reached the most critical point. Zeng Baihu hurriedly asked: "Dad Lin, who knows? This matter is of great importance. Please tell us."

Lin's father hesitated and refused to speak for a long time. Zeng Baihu saw the signs. Lin's father must have had clear news. He immediately stood up and said to Lin Chao: "Lin Chao, if you can convince your father to tell us the truth, after the Japanese pirates are cleared, you will officially become a member of the Weihaiwei Navy. This is the promise of the commander. We will go outside the house to wait for your news."

After saying that, Zeng Baihu took his men out of the house. In the yard, they were quietly waiting for the news. Only when they heard the fierce quarrels between the Lin family father and son from the room came from. From time to time, Lin Chao's mother begged for persuasion. Finally, Lin Chao almost roared a few times, and the quarrel stopped abruptly. After a while, Lin Chao opened the door and said, "My father actually knows that he is willing to take you there."

On the way from the Ryukyu Kingdom to the south, the Ming army annihilated a small fleet of Japanese pirates on the Xiandao Islands, killed more than 100 Japanese pirates, and found from the captured Japanese pirate map that the Japanese pirates were in a place called Houshu Port. Houshu Port is the entrance to a river and is easy to find, but the news I got from Lin Chao's father was that the Japanese pirates' base had moved away.

The Ming fleet walked along Xiaoliuqiu Island quickly. That afternoon, passing by the citrus island and heading towards Xiaoliuqiu Island. According to Lin Chao's father who led the way, the Japanese pirates moved to a few large fishing villages called Ping'an Town two months ago. The area was where Han fishermen gathered the most. There were about 4,000 households. Every household made a living by fishing. After drying into dried fish, they secretly bought it by smuggling boats and sold it to the people on the coast of Fujian. The money here has no effect and is all traded in kind.

At night, the fleet stopped in a shallow, about thirty miles from Ping'an Town, and more than a thousand soldiers were on a small boat. In order to prevent the Japanese pirates from escaping into the mountains, the Ming army divided into two groups. One was the Weihaiwei naval division, who was good at land combat, and the other was the Penglai naval division, attacking the Japanese pirate base camp by sea.

About two hours later, the Ming Navy continued to head south and attacked Ping'an Town where the Japanese pirates gathered.

The sea was dark and the sky and the sea were dark green, blending into the distance. The wind blew hard, the waves were surging, and huge waves several meters high were swaying against the hull. The military ship was shaking violently on the sea. However, this kind of wind and waves were nothing for those who had been going out to sea for a long time. On the bow of the treasure ship, Lin Chao's father, who was slightly hunched, looked ahead with worry. He had never smiled since he got on the boat. Although he had been guiding the Ming army with all his heart, everyone could see that he was reluctant. The more he was about to arrive in Ping'an Town, his mood seemed to be heavier, and no one knew what he was thinking?

Li Wei was looking at his lonely figure in the cabin, and an unknown premonition arose from his heart.

In the capital, Zhu Yuanzhang's study, the eunuchs and guards were hiding at the door tremblingly. Every time Zhu Yuanzhang smashed something, their hearts would be raised to their throats. The emperor was angry, and the rumors quickly spread throughout every corner of the palace.

In the study, Zhu Yuanzhang sat on the dragon throne and stared straight at a eunuch who was packing memorials on the ground. His face turned pale and his eyes were full of murderous intent. On the left side of the imperial case, there was a torn war report. Judging from the degree of torn, Zhu Yuanzhang's anger was most likely from it. There was a line of words written on the cover of the war report; "Commentary on the Pairing of Japanese and Han Slaves in Zhongshan Country of Ryukyu".

"Are my order to prohibit the sea is just a joke?" Zhu Yuanzhang's low roar once again squeezed out of his throat.

There is no doubt that Zhu Yuanzhang finally got angry with Li Weizheng. In his report, Li Wei formally proposed to resettle Han slaves in the Ryukyu Kingdom and the sparsely populated Amami Islands, which violated one of the supreme king's rebellion and the sea ban.

The sea ban was not a decision by Zhu Yuanzhang on a whim. From the second year of his ascension, he issued a ban on the sea. He had never relaxed for more than 20 years, but it would only become more severe. In order to prevent the sea ban from being implemented in the name of Japanese, the people were not allowed to go into the sea. The hatred for the sea came from his origin. He had deep affection for the land. He established a country with agriculture, developed a country with agriculture, and governed the country with agriculture. He hoped that his subjects could work hard on the land, work at sunrise and return at sunset, men farming, women weaving, yellow hair and white heads, and live a simple and simple farming life. For this reason, he ordered the subjects to be limited to twenty miles. Those who leave their hometown twenty miles must be approved by the government. He believed that what the people needed was nothing more than food and cloth, and both could be produced by themselves, so why should they leave their hometown? As long as they could produce food and cloth, the foundation of people's livelihood, even commerce was redundant.

The opposite of the land is the ocean. The endless sea means freedom and unrestrainedness. The only person he cannot control is the fishermen. The place where his decrees cannot go is the ocean. He cannot control the ocean. Therefore, he hates it and is afraid of the ocean. He believes that marine civilization is the natural enemy of agricultural civilization and a challenge to his supreme monarchy.

Li Weizheng's proposal to resettle Han slaves in Ryukyu overseas was exactly the most sensitive part of Zhu Yuanzhang. This was the first time that the two views on sea ban and sea ban collided. Although only a small spark was splashed, Zhu Yuanzhang was furious. In order to calm the Japanese pirates, he could tolerate Li Weizheng's repeated use of the right to attack the sea, but he would never tolerate him violating the national policy of sea ban...

Of course, except for Zhu Yuanzhang himself, no one realized the real reason for his anger. The news of Zhu Yuanzhang's anger spread throughout the court and the public in an instant, with some secretly happy and some sighing.

Just after lunch time, the Minister of Personnel Zhan Hui slowly came to the Ministry of War. It was still time to rest. Spring was in a short time, and everyone took the time to take a nap. The yamen seemed very deserted. Zhan Hui walked to the gate of the Ministry of War. When the two little officials who were napping by the door stood up when they saw the Minister of Personnel arrived, Zhan Hui waved his hand and smiled: "It's okay, I'm just here to go around the door, don't be so nervous."

He looked over and asked with a smile: "Has your Shangshu Sun gone out?"

"Report to the Lord, Mr. Sun has not gone out, he is in the yamen."

"Okay, you guys are busy! I'll go and have a look."

Zhan Hui walked into the gate of the Ministry of War with his hands behind his back. The Ministry of War was the same structure as the Ministry of Personnel, covering a vast area, with a deep and complex courtyard, and a central axis runs through it. The departments of the Ministry of War were distributed along both sides of the central axis. Zhan Hui walked along the corridor to the end and came to the front of the prefecture of the Minister of War Sun Jiatai. Although the door was not closed, it was somewhat taboo for the official to enter the important area of ​​the Ministry of War. He said to a employed person, and he went in and reported it. After a moment, he said, "Shangshu Zhan, my master invites you in."

Zhan Hui walked into the court room with his hands behind his back and saw Sun Jiatai greeting him. He smiled and said, "Sir Zhan, why are you here at noon?"

"I have nothing to do, so I'll come and see Lord Sun."

"Hehe! I guess you will come." Sun Jiatai smiled mysteriously and waved his hand and said, "Sir, please sit in the middle hall."

The central hall was the place where the Secretary of the House was resting and entertaining guests. Sun Jiatai asked Zhan Hui to sit down and ordered people to serve two cups of fragrant tea. He waved his hand and ordered everyone on both sides to go down. When the door was closed, Sun Jiatai took out a memorial from his arms, pushed it gently in front of Zhan Hui, and smiled with a squinted eyes and said, "This is a copy of his memorial. Lord Zhan will know why the emperor is angry when he looks."

As soon as the two of them looked, they both understood and laughed. It was really a bit of harmony. Without having to speak by themselves, Sun Jiatai knew what he was going to do. Zhan Hui put down the teacup and picked up the memorial casually. It seemed casually, but he read Li Weizheng's memorial word for word. He closed the memorial and sighed softly: "It's true that it's not as expected. The problem lies in the 'on-the-moment decision-making power'. He actually used it to threaten the vassal states without authorization. It seems that this person is still a little too tender and does not understand the emperor's deep meaning!"

"Mr. Zhan, I also want to ask, what is the deep meaning of the emperor?"

"Can't you even see this?" Zhan Hui smiled faintly and said, "Goryeo used the power of decision-making on the front line once, and Japan used it for the second time. Although it was the emperor's approval, he crossed the emperor's bottom line. If it were me, I would rather miss the military plane than come back to ask the emperor for advice. This is the way to be an official. It is not about what you do, but about what you do? This is one of the mistakes he made."

"What about his mistakes?" Sun Jiatai asked with a smile.

Zhan Hui sneered and said, "Before the Goryeo incident was settled, he was going to fight the Three Kingdoms of Ryukyu again, saying that it was to annihilate the Japanese pirates. I can understand his strategy. It was nothing more than using his performance in this matter to change the emperor's dissatisfaction with his abusive power in Goryeo. He did learn to be smart. He asked for instructions before taking action at Liuhe Port. The emperor approved it and he set out. At that time, I already knew that he would fall into this 'on-the-moment decision-making power' again, so I did not object at all."

Sun Jiatai couldn't help but feel a little confused. He didn't understand what Zhan Hui meant. After hesitating for a while, he still couldn't help asking: "Mr. Zhan, I don't understand very much. Since I follow the order, there should be no problem. Why did the master know that he would fall into this matter again?"

Zhan Hui laughed loudly, making Sun Jiatai blush. He quickly stood up and bowed to Zhan Huishen and said, "I know that sir is smart, but I am stupid. I really can't see where the problem is? Please teach me."

Zhan Hui stroked his long beard and smiled, "Actually, it's not that I am smart or that Brother Sun is stupid. It's because I know the emperor a little bit more than Brother Sun."

"I wish to listen to the advice of the Lord!"

Zhan Hui pondered for a moment and said, "Actually, Li Weizheng's strategy is not wrong. He wants to use the attack on Japanese pirates to calm the emperor's dissatisfaction with his Goryeo affairs. The direction is right. As long as he does a good job, the emperor will indeed let him go to the wrong way in Goryeo. It's a pity that he took the wrong step. The emperor gave him the right to wait for the opportunity again. If I were him, I would go to Beijing to apologize to the emperor instead of turning around. He didn't think about it. Could the emperor give him the right to wait for the opportunity again and again? This is the emperor testing him! He didn't know, seriously, he really used this right to wait for the opportunity to teach the Three Kingdoms of Ryukyu. The Three Kingdoms of Ryukyu are vassal states of the Ming Dynasty. Will he be his turn to teach a lesson?"

Sun Jiatai suddenly realized, and he raised his thumbs up and praised: "Gao! Is it still high for Lord Zhan? It seems that Li Wei is still a little too tender."
Chapter completed!