In the twenty-fourth year of Guangde, the Japanese epidemic in the southeast coastal area became more and more popular.

At the beginning of the 14th century, the Japanese state, separated from the Dayang Dynasty by only one sea, entered a period of division between the Northern and Southern Dynasties.

Just last year, the Northern Dynasty unified the Japanese country, and the warriors, frustrated politicians and ronin of the Southern Dynasty lost their support, so they lived in the sea, entrenched islands, and invaded the coastal areas of Dayang from time to time to carry out armed smuggling, robbery, burning and piracy activities, so they were called Japanese pirates.

Internal and external troubles, people's livelihood suffering, no money in the national treasury, and the fact that Emperor Guangde was not in good health during this time, just paving the way for Meng Zezhi had exhausted most of his energy, and he really had no time to take care of other things, so he was more inclined subjectively. According to the proposal of Gan Zhengfu, the minister of households, the sea ban was implemented.

Meng Zezhi persuaded: "Father, it is absolutely absolutely impossible. Blindly backing down will only increase the prestige of the pirates. Now the Japanese pirates are only a small force, they dare to commit more than ten looting incidents within a month, and wait for them to develop. When you grow up, don’t you dare to attack the city and plunder the land in a blink of an eye?”

Seeing Meng Zezhi standing up, Minister of Industry Lu Zhenxiang followed him and said, "Long live, what His Highness King Ning said is that once these Japanese pirates become a force and endanger coastal water transportation, the consequences will be unimaginable. What's more, the implementation of the sea ban, the coastal ten Where should the tens of thousands of fishermen go?"

Seeing that Meng Zezhi was digging a hole for himself, and the Eighth Prince Le helped fuel the flames, he immediately said: "My son thinks that what Lord Lu said is very true, the father and emperor are valiant, and he has been thinking hard for more than ten years, and finally completely defeated Tatar in the 20th year of Guangde. Tar, ashamed before the snow, and praised the heavenly power of my court. Now just because the navy is unfavorable, the court avoids and fears war. If it spreads out, how will the people of the world view my court?"

How could Emperor Guangde not understand these truths? In his opinion, the root of the Yang Dynasty lies in agriculture, and the production of agriculture is enough to support the Dayang Dynasty. The most important thing is that it took five full years to fight the Tartars before, and the Japanese pirates were at sea, watching the wind, and they were more mobile. How long would it take to get rid of them, Emperor Guangde thought. Don't even think about it.

It was Meng Zezhi who was in charge of the battle. For a while, Emperor Guangde couldn't guess what he was thinking. After covering his mouth and coughing heavily, he could only prevaricate: "This matter is very important, and later Let me think about it again."

Immediately after the court, Emperor Guangde recruited Meng Zezhi to the Qianqing Palace.

Meng Zezhi opened the door: "Father, I want to use this group of Japanese pirates to train soldiers."

"What?" Emperor Guangde's words were blocked by Meng Zezhi's words.

Talking too much is useless, Meng Zezhi directly took Emperor Guangde to the firearms bureau in Xishan.

There was only one exit left, and in the valleys surrounded by cliffs and cliffs, more than a dozen muskets were fired at once. After a loud bang, a row of sixty zhang (one zhang is 3.3 meters) away was dressed in cotton armor. (A kind of armor inlaid with iron pieces on a thick cotton or silk cloth and fixed with copper nails) The wooden man fell in response.

When the soldiers lifted the wooden men over to take a look, they saw that the cotton armor on the wooden man was covered with dense bullet holes. When the cotton armor was lifted, the bullets had completely submerged into the wooden man's body.

Meng Zezhi introduced: "This is a smoothbore flint musket with a range of about 80 meters, a fast rate of fire, and low recoil. This is a rifle (shotgun) with an effective range of about 90 meters, and the reloading is slow but accurate. It's relatively high. This is a flintlock gun (pistol), with a range of less than thirty-five meters, which is better than the cost."

These were the only things Meng Zezhi could tinker with in this poor and backward age, almost exhausting his abilities.

As for the more lethal artillery, don't even think about it, the cost is too expensive.

Just for this firearms bureau, in just five months, Meng Zezhi had poured 300,000 taels of silver into it, and almost half of the skilled craftsmen in the North were here.

Fortunately, at this time, Western countries are generally still dealing with cold weapons. It is conservatively estimated that these three muskets are big enough to be powerful enough for two hundred years.

Of course, Emperor Guangde understood what this meant.

In addition to the bed crossbow, you must know that the best heavy crossbow equipped by the Dayang Dynasty army is only 70 meters in range, not to mention the ordinary crossbow. A well-trained archer can shoot arrows out. Fifty feet is already pretty good.

After a while, Emperor Guangde regained his senses. He asked in a slightly hoarse voice: "How many muskets can you make in a month?"

"Going back to my father, the smoothbore flint musket can be made 400 a month, the rifle 100, and the flintlock 150."

"What about the cost?"

Meng Zezhi answered any questions he had asked: "Excluding the craftsman's wages, the cost of a smoothbore flint musket is about ten taels, a rifle is fifteen taels or six, and a flintlock gun is four taels. For the ammunition, smoothbore flint is used. Take a musket as an example, a base of 100 rounds costs 128 cents and 3 cents."

Emperor Guangde's gaze shifted from the muskets held by the soldiers to the workers who were busy with their feet not touching the ground not far away.

If these things had come out decades earlier, perhaps he would not have been chased away by the Tartars.

He had no intention of asking more, let alone why Meng Zezhi had concealed so many things from him.

After all, he had already identified Meng Zezhi as his heir, not to mention that this was his and Zitong's son. The better Meng Zezhi's performance, the more he should rest assured.

——This is also the main reason why Meng Zezhi dared to bring Emperor Guangde here.

Thinking of this, Emperor Guangde's mood instantly opened up a little, and he nodded: "In this case, the matter of pacifying the Japanese is approved."

The next day, Emperor Guangde allocated 300,000 taels of silver from his internal funds as military expenses, with General Zhaoyi and Taitou Battalion General Liu Wenshan as the commander, and the prince of Zheng Guogong’s son Qian Boyu as the supervisor, and transferred the Fifth Army Camp and Taitou Camp. Three thousand soldiers and horses each, together with eighty Dengzhou Guard warships and five thousand navy troops, entered the southeast coast to conquer Japanese pirates.

Liu Wenshan was the elder brother of the prefect of Wenzhou Prefecture, and the prefect of Wenzhou Prefecture was the business partner introduced to him by the Xiao family that night when Meng Zezhi moved in.

Zheng Guogong's mansion is the natal family of Empress Xiaogong Qian, and Meng Zeming's nominal mother's family. In terms of seniority, he should call Qian Boyu his uncle.

The Fifth Army Camp was under Zhao Lingwu's army. He originally wanted to push Zhao Yijing to be the head coach, but Meng Zezhi put his priority on winning the heirloom, and he needed Zhao Yijing to stay in the capital.

The current Zhao Yijing was arranged by Meng Zezhi to be the commander of the Jingwei commander, the third-rank commander, and the commander of the Jingwei commander, who was mainly responsible for guarding the capital and guarding the imperial palace.

Before the army set off, Meng Zezhi met with Qian Boyu, the heir of the Duke of Zheng, in the study room of Prince Ning's mansion.

"General Liu Wenshan is also my person. If there is anything, uncle may wish to discuss with him more."

"Yes." Qian Boyu said respectfully.

"Weihe Shipyard has more than 40 new-style sea ships that I secretly built. After you arrive in Fujian, recruit crew members on the spot, and then combine these more than 40 sea-going ships with the 80 warships of Dengzhouwei. Form a fleet to meet the Japanese pirates, this is to prepare for the sea trade plan." Meng Zezhi pushed the wooden box at his hand to him: "This is the certificate to take the ship."

Compared with others, as Meng Zeming's uncle in name, Qian Boyu, who is shrewd and capable, is obviously more trusted by him. After all, the other party is the one who is least likely to betray him.

"Yes." Qian Boyu didn't ask much. He could see that Meng Zezhi was a very assertive person. Since he didn't hope to influence him with family affection, he would just do things down-to-earth.

On March 28, the army set off, accompanied by the three hundred guards who belonged to the Ning Wangfu and later served as guards in the Firearms Bureau. He is also the professor's task of scouting the army to use muskets.

As for the Firearms Bureau, Emperor Guangde transferred a thousand cronies from the Shenji Camp.

When the war on the coast started, in the Forbidden City, Emperor Guangde fell ill again.

This time, the condition was menacing, but within a few days, Emperor Guangde couldn't get out of bed. Before he passed out, he ordered Meng Zezhi to supervise the country.

When the news came out, some were happy and some were sad.

Not long after it was Emperor Guangde's birthday, Gan Zhengfu, the minister of households, proposed to convene a hundred civil and military officials to hold a grand birthday banquet for Emperor Guangde.

Meng Zezhi gave him a deep look and agreed.

Just as the Eighth Prince wanted to kill Meng Zezhi's people at the birthday banquet, Meng Zezhi also had the idea of ​​doing it once and for all.

The capital was also in chaos.

Everyone knows the storm is coming.

On the day of the birthday banquet, Emperor Guangde unexpectedly recovered.

The ministers were startled at the unusually rosy face of Emperor Shangguang De.

After appreciating the birthday gifts presented by the civil and military officials, I read the "Wen Tianxiang" again. Perhaps it was full of fun. Emperor Guangde waved back all the actors, looked around, and said in a slow voice: "I am honored by Liangde, and I will inherit Sipi. Kei, twenty-four years have passed..."

Hearing this, the ministers immediately stood up from their seats and fell to their knees.

"...I know that time is short, and I will take this good day and auspicious day to do the funeral together, Tao An, declare the decree."

"Long live!" All the ministers shouted in pain.

Tao An immediately unfolded the imperial decree in his hand and sang: "Since ancient times, when emperors ruled the world, they must respect the ancestors of the heavens and the ancestors, and the ancestors of the heavens and the ancestors are all based on sincerity. The heart of sincerity. Work hard every day..."

"...Taizu created and established the foundation, and he was locked up very seriously. Yuanliang's heir should not be emptied for a long time. My five sons, Shi'an, were born by Empress Xiaogong Qian, Qiyi Yinghui, Kecheng Zongyu, and I am hereby established as the crown prince. Announcement at home and abroad, Xian envoys to hear it.”

"Long live, long live, my emperor."

Above the main hall, the five princes were ecstatic, but they couldn't show it, but their faces were a little distorted.

"Father is really partial!"

The eighth prince slowly stood up and said with a sneer.

Behind him, with a bang, a signal flare rushed into the sky.

After a while, there was a humming sound of horse hooves and fighting in the distance, which made one's heart chill.

Emperor Guangde's face sank: "Niezi, do you want to rebel?"

The eighth prince sneered: "Father, isn't this what you forced me to do?"

He gritted his teeth: "It was you who gave me hope and drove me into the abyss with your own hands."

Emperor Guangde hated that iron could not become steel: "As long as you can have a little love for the people, I will not make such a choice."

He didn't want to say more, and immediately shouted: "Come on, let me arrest this evil obstacle-"

Not one of the guards and eunuchs in the hall moved.

"You, you?" Emperor Guangde was stunned.

"Father, don't bother, if I don't have all the preparations, would I dare to do this?"

After saying that, the eighth prince looked at Meng Zezhi with a proud face: "Do you think that as long as you replace my staff in the palace, you can sleep at ease, naive - you probably didn't expect that the Minister of the Household, Gan Zhengfu, The big eunuch Tao An who is next to the father is actually my person, so these guards you have tried so hard to replace are actually my people."

Meng Zezhi looked gloomy.

With that said, the eighth prince walked up the imperial steps step by step, stood on the dragon chair money, and with a look of resentment towards Emperor Guangde, he leaned into Emperor Guangde's ear and said in a voice that was only enough for the two of them to hear: "And the imperial doctor who gave you the pulse diagnosis is also my person, otherwise why do you think you are suddenly seriously ill."

Emperor Guangde was stunned and pointed at him with trembling fingers: "You, you, beast..." He actually poisoned him.

He was in a rage: "In charge of Jinwei, kill this beast who has forgotten his ancestors, is unfaithful and unfilial."

Saying that, several black-clothed guards sprang out from the corner of the hall, and they rushed over to the Eighth Prince in an instant.

"I see who would dare—"

The author has something to say:

Meng Zezhi: See how thick my thigh is?

Lu Li: ... (looks halfway to the side)

The content of the edict was taken from the will of the Shunzhi and Kangxi emperors in the Qing Dynasty. Because no one from the Ming Dynasty was found, it was used.