In May of the 27th year of Jiajing, just one month after Zhu Kun broke Shuangyu Island, the Japanese envoy Zhou Liang led more than 600 people to Ningbo by boat.

This incident caused an uproar for a while.

You must know that since the battle for tribute in the second year of Jiajing, although the imperial court did not prohibit the exploration trade at the official level of Japan, it made very strict regulations.

The Japanese side was required to pay tribute every 10 years, three ships, 100 personnel, and prohibit the use of weapons.

Although there may be deviations in the number of people and ships in terms of specific implementation, the time of one tribute every ten years has never changed.

Now Zhou Liang did not pay tribute according to the specified time, but it was a problem for Zhu Kun.

Unlike the Japanese Kou, Zhou Liang represents the Ouchi clan and is the official Japanese one.

On the one hand, he first let the tribute envoy team live in Dinghai County, Ningbo, and on the other hand, he wrote to the Son of Heaven to ask for a solution.

Emperor Jiajing gave instructions after consulting with the cabinet after receiving Zhu Kun's recital; Flexible.

This is tantamount to authorizing Zhu Kun and ordering him to handle this matter with full authority.

It stands to reason that when the will of the Son of Heaven reaches Ningbo, the Japanese envoys can begin to explore trade.

But at this time, there were traitors who sowed discord and told Zhou Liang that Zhu Kun intended to write to the imperial court to completely cancel Japan's exploration trade.

The reason why they were still settled in Ningbo was to delay time, and when the Son of Heaven arrived, he would repatriate them all.

Zhou Liang was naturally furious, and the current frequency of tribute was far from meeting the needs of the Ouchi clan. This Zhu Su is extremely vicious, and he even wants to completely cancel the exploration trade.

I can't bear it.

Since you can't bear it, you don't need to endure it anymore.

Zhou Liang decided not to do anything and assassinate Zhu Kun.

Although it stands to reason that the tributary envoys are not allowed to carry blades, that is only official rhetoric.

In fact, it is very dangerous to cross the ocean, and if you encounter pirates on the road without a sword, you will not even have the ability to resist.

Besides, the number of people in Zhou Liang's trip has already exceeded the standard, so naturally he doesn't care about violating the requirements of the Ming court in terms of blades.

His subordinates were all the bravest samurai of the Ouchi clan, and Zhou Liang singled out more than a dozen people and ordered them to sneak into the General Inspectorate at night to take Zhu Kun's life.

Coincidentally, Zhu Kun originally returned to Hangzhou shortly after the capture of Shuangyu. But because the Japanese envoys came to pay tribute, he returned to Ningbo and lived in the Dinghai County Procuratorate.

The county seat of Dinghai is very small, and Zhou Liang only inquired a little to know where Zhu Kun lived.

On the night of May 9, when the warriors sent by Zhou Liang infiltrated the procuratorate and were about to commit murder, they were discovered by Zhu Kun's own soldiers.

The precautions of the General Inspectorate were still in place, and for a time countless soldiers rushed to fight with the Japanese samurai who came to assassinate Zhu Kun.

After a fierce fight, both sides were defeated, and all the Japanese samurai were killed.

Zhu Kun was very dissatisfied with this. He wanted to stay alive, but there was nothing he could do about it.

From the outfits, it can be seen that these assassins are Japanese people, and now the only one in Dinghai County who can make up so many powerful Japanese people at one time is the tribute mission brought by Zhou Liang.

It's a pity that he didn't catch it alive, otherwise he would have been able to get something useful through interrogation.

However, early the next morning, the news of the Inspectorate's infiltration of the Assassins spread.

There is really no way to do this, there is no impermeable wall in the sky, not to mention that it is impossible to suppress any movement in this acre and three points of land in Dinghai County.

Xu Yan naturally learned the news.

He was very worried about this.

In the original history, it was because of the handling of this tribute incident that Zhu Kun offended the Fujian and Zhejiang groups and laid the root cause.

Now that things are developing in that direction again, how can Xu Yan not be in a hurry?

After thinking about it, Xu Yan still decided to go to the procuratorate to give Zhu Kun a wake-up call.

However, after last night's assassination, there were many additional guards around the General Inspectorate.

Although Xu Yan and Zhu Yan were familiar with each other, they also accepted a series of stylized interrogations, and only then did they successfully enter the procuratorate.

Zhu Kun handled official business in the study as usual, and his mood did not seem to be greatly affected by the 'assassination incident'.

After learning that Xu Yan was coming, he also put down the case in his hand and motioned for Xu Yan to sit down and said.

"Lord Ministry, I heard that a Japanese sneaked into the procuratorate last night to assassinate you?"

Xu Yan and Zhu Yan are old acquaintances, so naturally there is no need to do such nonsense greetings, but ask straight to the point.

Zhu Kun didn't hide it, and said with a slight bow: "This is indeed the case, judging from their attire, I am afraid that they are people from the tribute mission." It's a pity that there is no room left. ”

Xu Yan asked, "How is Lord Ministries going to deal with this matter?" ”

"Naturally, it's to get to the bottom of it."

Zhu Kun said without hesitation.

Xu Yan sighed in his heart, Zhu Yan was really too upright.

"There is a sentence that I don't know whether to say it in my later life."

"It doesn't hurt to say it in time."

"Don't you think this matter is very strange?"

Xu Yan paused and said, "When the Japanese came to pay tribute, they naturally hoped that the exploration trade could be carried out smoothly. The Ministry of Justice, the commander-in-chief of the Fujian and Zhejiang armies, and important political affairs. It's too late for them to flatter you, how can they do such a stupid thing as assassination? ”

Zhu Kun felt that what Xu Yan said was very reasonable, and motioned for him to continue.

Xu Yan was encouraged, took a deep breath and said: "In my humble opinion, I'm afraid that someone is obstructing this matter and sowing discord." ”

"Who do you think did it?"

"Naturally, it's a person who doesn't like the eyes of the minister."

Xu Yan continued: "Lord Mintang just destroyed Shuangyu not long ago, in addition to the Franc machine people and Japanese pirates on the island, there should be a lot of local pirates, right?" In fact, these people are the smuggling arms of Fujian and Zhejiang maritime merchants, and the lord of the ministry has formed a bond with them. ”

Zhu Kun's face was solemn, and he was silent for a long time before he said: "This official naturally knows, but they will provoke the Japanese envoy to assassinate this official because of this matter?" After all, this involves Fanbang, is it possible that they don't even have the slightest righteousness in their hearts? ”

Xu Yan sneered in his heart, righteousness? These Fujian and Zhejiang maritime businessmen only have their own interests in their minds, and the word righteousness has nothing to do with them at all.

Since taking office, Zhu Kun has pursued a very strict policy of banning the sea, which has naturally moved the interests of these maritime merchants.

The so-called cutting off people's money is like killing parents.

This contradiction was completely intensified after Zhu Kun destroyed Shuangyu.

Fujian, Zhejiang, and maritime merchants all wanted to kill Zhu Kun and then quickly.

Of course, they didn't want to do it themselves, and at this time, there was a Japanese envoy, and it was not right for them to use a borrowed knife to kill people?

"Lord Ministry, it is easy to go to foreign countries, and it is difficult to go to China. It's easy to go to China, but it's hard to go to China. ”

Xu Yan said impassionedly: "These Fujian and Zhejiang maritime businessmen only have selfish interests in their hearts, and only their small families. As for the Ming Dynasty, the interests of the imperial court were naturally not in their consideration. Whoever stands in their way, they will get rid of them as soon as possible. ”

...

... Diagram of the Avenue of the Heavens