The scorching summer is passing in a flash, the slow autumn wind brings the harvest season, this year, the Jiangnan harvest, the Liaodong harvest, rice, wheat and other traditional crops have greatly increased the yield, sweet potato, potatoes and other introduced species are even more amazing, the food problem of the Ming Dynasty can be said to have been completely solved.

However, these are not all of the harvest of Daming this autumn, there is a bigger fruit waiting for Daming to grab, this fruit is the island country of Dongying!

The Shimabara peasant uprising in Toei has been going on for nearly a year, and Amakusa Shiro firmly controls the Shimabara Domain and the Amakusa Domain with the secret assistance of Daming, and the 120,000 troops of the Tokugawa shogunate are pinned down outside Shimabara Castle.

Their shogun, Tokugawa Iemitsu, was even more uncomfortable than them, and the 120,000 shogunate army led by Matsudaira Nobutsuna was like the 200,000 Liaodong army at Chongzhen's time, and the military expenses alone could make him anxious.

At this time, Tokugawa Iemitsu can be said to be worse than Emperor Chongzhen at that time, you must know that the entire Dongying is now less than 20 million people, and the Tokugawa shogunate can really control only a quarter, that is to say, he can only receive taxes from five million people, and more than 100 million people in the Ming Dynasty can only receive more than 20 million taels of taxes every year, and it is good that his five million commoners can receive 1 million taels a year.

120,000 troops, grain and grass plus salary, at least 300,000 taels a month, ten months is 3 million taels, you must know that he Tokugawa Shogunate has only been in power for more than 30 years, and it is good to leave 100,000 taels a year after shaving expenditures, this battle was fought, and the Tokugawa Shogunate was on the verge of bankruptcy.

The so-called taking advantage of your illness to kill you, it was at this time that Zhu Cijiong began a long-planned plan, he directly summoned Zheng Zhilong to the capital, and the key to capturing Dongying fell on this guy, for his beloved young son Tagawa Nanazaemon, he believed that this goods would go all out.

Zheng Zhilong can be described as proud of this period of time, as a new negotiating minister, he was able to get 20 million taels from the Dutch in one fell swoop, this achievement is simply unprecedented, and he doesn't know if there is anyone coming later, anyway, he feels very cool, quite cool.

At this moment, Zhu Cijiong summoned him to the capital, he thought that he was going to slander him again, so he hurriedly ran over.

As a result, Zhu Cijiong summoned him to his private study, closed the door mysteriously, and then said, "You prepare, go to Dongying in a few days!" ”

Nani? Go to Toei! Da Ming doesn't seem to have started a war with Dongying at this time, and he doesn't have Dongying's prisoners in his hands, so he ran over with his bare ass to ask for money, so don't you seek death!

Seeing his frightened expression, Zhu Cijiong couldn't help but ask curiously, "What's wrong, what's the problem?" ”

Zheng Zhilong swallowed his saliva and asked with difficulty: "Your Majesty, how much will they pay this time?" ”

He was already prepared in his heart, if it was a few million taels, he would simply pay out of his own pocket, and if he wanted to run over like this to find someone to blackmail money, he would definitely die for a lifetime, and he didn't want to die.

Zhu Cijiong looked at him inexplicably, and asked unconsciously, "Losing money?" What money to lose? ”

Didn't you go to someone to blackmail money? This time it was Zheng Zhilong's turn to be inexplicable, why did he run over if he didn't go to someone to blackmail money, his main job recently seemed to be to negotiate with people, if he didn't blackmail money, was he going to talk to them about cooperation? It seems that there is nothing to cooperate with Dongying!

It's no wonder that Zheng Zhilong couldn't react at this time, during this time his mind was full of negotiations, and he almost forgot about other things, so he really couldn't think of it, so he had to ask stupidly: "Then what did the emperor ask me to do in Dongying?" ”

Zhu Cijiong rolled his eyes, what the hell is going on with this thing, didn't you tell him about Dongying before? He reminded angrily: "Didn't you say that you should let your father-in-law get a daimyo first, if you don't help him make the current daimyo, how can he become a daimyo?" ”

It turned out to be this, Zheng Zhilong almost jumped up excitedly, the emperor was finally going to do something to Dongying, and his youngest son's shogun was almost there, he said excitedly: "Your Majesty, how do you say it, do you directly pretend to be a pirate to do the Matsuura clan, or assassinate?" ”

Zhu Cijiong is inclined to assassination, he patiently analyzed: "If you directly pretend to be a pirate, the movement is too big, if they detect it, they may have to attack the city, in case he escapes, it is not good, it is better to assassinate, secretly go over and give him a look, it's a hundred." ”

Zheng Zhilong thought for a while, and said embarrassedly: "This, this, the emperor, please forgive Weichen for his courage, there are more people who are qualified to be a daimyo than Weichen's father-in-law in Hizen Kingdom, with the current situation, if the Matsuura clan suddenly hangs up, it will not be Weichen's father-in-law to be a daimyo at all." ”

Zhu Cijiong shook his head and said helplessly: "Why are you so stupid?" Anyway, killing one is also killing, killing two is also killing, just pretend to be a spy of the peasant rebel army in the city, sneak into Hirado Castle, and kill all the Hizen Province positions higher than your father-in-law, isn't your father-in-law a daimyo as a matter of course? ”

Zheng Zhilong thought about it, and said a little worriedly: "It's not impossible, but so many people have been assassinated, but my father-in-law is fine, Weichen is afraid that it will arouse the suspicion of others, and when the time comes, it will cause dissatisfaction among the people below, and this big name is a little difficult to do." ”

Zhu Cijiong nodded and said: "This is a problem, or you bring Xiao Qizaemon and his mother over, first let them bring thousands of guards home to save their relatives, and then pretend to be a spy of the rebel army and fight with them for a while, and when everyone else is killed, let the person who pretends to be a spy escape, so that it will not arouse the suspicion of others." ”

When Zheng Zhilong heard this, he couldn't help but praise: "The emperor is wise, just do it, but a few thousand people are too many, at most five hundred people will be sent, otherwise the Matsuura clan will be suspicious before they start to act." ”

Zhu Cijiong said lightly: "You can do this, anyway, you don't show your face, just command in secret, and, do you know Amakusa Shiro?" ”

When Zheng Zhilong heard this, he said curiously: "Amakusa Shiro? That peasant revolt leader? Wechen hasn't seen it! ”

Zhu Cijiong said disdainfully: "Aren't you all Catholics? And they all joined the religion in Hizen country, how could you not know him? ”

Zheng Zhilong explained embarrassedly: "Well, this, I heard that the kid is only more than ten years old, and Wechen left Hirado more than ten years ago, and it is estimated that he was just born at that time, and Wechen really doesn't know him." ”

Zhu Cijiong slapped his forehead and said helplessly: "Okay, it's not the point to recognize him or not, but you must subdue him when you go to Dongying this time." ”

Zheng Zhilong is a little embarrassed, this person doesn't know how to subdue people, he is the king of Zhennan of the Ming Dynasty, and he is not the king of Zhennan of Dongying, so there is no reason for people to pee on him.

Seeing his expression, Zhu Cijiong couldn't help but point: "The weapons I gave them, you can say that you secretly funded them; Aren't you all Catholics, you are still his predecessors, and you can use this relationship to get close to him? Also, didn't he rebel because the Tokugawa shogunate suppressed Catholics, and you can assure him that the Tagawa shogunate would never interfere with his freedom of religious belief after he came to power, so why shouldn't he follow you? ”

When Zheng Zhilong heard this, his eyes lit up, and he couldn't help but praise again: "The emperor is wise, and Weichen knows what to do." ”

Zhu Cijiong nodded and continued: "Letting your father-in-law become the daimyo of Hizen Province and subduing Amakusa Shiro is only the first step, and then you must wipe out the 120,000 shogunate army outside Shimabara Castle as soon as possible, and then secretly instigate the daimyo from all over the country to rebel against the Tokugawa shogunate, so that Toei can return to the Warring States period, so that we can have the opportunity to take advantage of the chaos to seek Toei." ”

Zheng Zhilong was a little embarrassed again, it was an army of 120,000, how to destroy it?

He couldn't help but say cautiously: "Your Majesty, it seems that there are only 40,000 or 50,000 rebel troops in Kusushiro that day, if he can destroy the 120,000 shogunate army, I'm afraid he won't be able to do it." ”

Zhu Cijiong was a little crazy, how did this product become the leader of the pirates, he explained angrily: "Once your father-in-law becomes the daimyo of the Feiqian Kingdom, you can recruit troops and buy horses, you let Hong Xu and Gan Hui lead the trained 20,000 subordinates directly into his name, and then recruit some people everywhere, at least you can get together 40,000 or 50,000 horses." When the time comes, let Zheng Zhilong lead the fifty super battleships of the Nanyang Naval Division to secretly arrive at Shimahara Castle, send ten rounds of naval artillery to the shogunate army camp outside the city, and then flank the Amakusa Shiro in Shimabara Castle back and forth, can the 120,000 shogunate army stop it? ”

In fact, Zheng Zhilong is not stupid at all, but his strength is business and being a pirate, let him lead more than 100,000 pirates to rob 40,000 or 50,000 merchant ships, then there is absolutely no problem, but let him take 40,000 or 50,000 peasant rebels to clean up the 120,000 shogunate army, he is a little blind.

Fortunately, Zhu Cijiong has been planning for this issue for a long time, and he has already had a belly case, otherwise he really couldn't come up with a result for a while.

In fact, Zheng Zhilong always thought that Zhu Cijiong would directly send troops to attack Dongying, in that case it would be much simpler, as long as all the men and horses and sailors of Liaodong were sent over, the Tokugawa shogunate would definitely not be able to resist, and it was only a matter of time before Dongying was taken.

However, Zhu Cijiong will never do this, Dongying's national strength is not weak, if he waves his army to attack, it will be aggressive, Dongying will definitely resist desperately, don't underestimate Dongying, at that time in the Ming Dynasty, Dongying's population can definitely rank among the top three in the world, and there are almost no more powerful countries than him. Moreover, Dongying has just passed through the Warring States Period, and the total number of troops under the princes of various places is at least four or five hundred thousand.

Supporting the Tagawa shogunate was different, the Toei people were used to the struggle between the vassal states, and the rise of the Tagawa clan seemed normal to them, as long as the Tagawa clan didn't go too far, it would be impossible for the princes from all over the country to unite against him. When the time comes, the princes of various places will crusade against each other, and the Tagawa clan will climb to the position of the overlord again, and everything will be natural, isn't it just a change of shogunate, and the princes of Dongying will not have much resistance at all.

This is Zhu Cijiong's overall plan, to seize Dongying, it doesn't have to be tough, it can also be relied on strategy, Zhu Cijiong doesn't even have to make a move, he just needs to support Zheng Zhilong and Tagawa Nanazaemon in the back.