In the next few days, Masanori summoned Zhou Shige again, but this time he also called Ashikaga Kazuki's Japanese envoys, and then after talking with Tayama Naoyoshi, Masanori issued an edict to Ashikaga Yoshisai, once again re-sealing Ashikaga Yoshisai as the "King of Japan", and also rewarded some property and a Japanese king's seal representing Ashikaga Yoshisai's identity.

Don't underestimate these rewards of Masatoku, although they are not worth much, but they represent the attitude of the Ming Dynasty, as long as Ashikaga Yoshisai has these, he will immediately be able to increase his prestige, and then he will be able to attract more powerful daimyos, which is what Ashikaga Yoshisai needs most.

In addition, what Tayama Naoyoshi and Ashikaga Kazuki did not expect was that after the reward, Emperor Zhengde actually announced in person the appointment of Zhou Zhong as the governor of the four seas of the Ming Dynasty, the commander-in-chief of the maritime affairs of the Ming Dynasty, and also handed over all matters to Zhou Chong to assist them, that is, if they have anything in the future, they only need to contact Zhou Chong.

Although Tayama Naoyoshi and Ashikaga Kazuki were very shocked by the news, they quickly reacted, and first congratulated Zhou Chong, and then began to pat Zhou Chong's ass, after all, they are not stupid, and it all depends on Zhou Chong's face to know what kind of assistance he can get in the future.

After meeting Zhengde, Zhou Chong took Tian Shan Shangyi and them out of the palace, but the other party had to invite Zhou Chong to dinner, and when eating, he gave Zhou Chong a gift, in line with the principle of not accepting nothing, Zhou Chong also smiled, after all, in the future, he will also disrupt the political situation of the Japanese State through Tian Shan Shangyi and these people, and it is also necessary to maintain a good relationship with these people now.

In the afternoon, Zhou Zhong finally got rid of the entanglement of Tayama Shangyi and others. Ride back to Fuchu in a carriage. But he had only just entered the door. Immediately, a servant came to report that a guest had come to visit him.

Hearing that someone came to visit, Zhou Zhong couldn't help but be a little strange, there were not many people who knew the news of his entry into Beijing, and the appointment of the governor of the four seas was only known to a few people, and it was not spread out, and it was a little strange that someone came to visit him at this time.

Come back to the living room next week. As soon as he entered the door, he saw an old man with a sturdy figure and a gray beard sitting in the hall drinking tea in the hall, and when he saw Zhou Chong coming in, the old man immediately stood up and said with a smile: "This must be Lord Zhou, the old man Jingyang Bo Shenying, I have seen Lord Zhou!" ”

"Shenying?" Zhou Zhong was also shocked when he heard this name, this name was the second time he had heard it, and last time he suggested that Zhengde pay attention to the rebellion of Liu Liu and Liu Qi, but Zhengde didn't say a word, and immediately changed his mind and sent Jingying to suppress the rebellion. And the general who led this Beijing camp was this Jingyang Bo Shenying.

"Ha Lu Ha~, it turned out to be the old general of God. A few days ago, I heard His Majesty praise the old general for his hard work, Zhou has always wanted to visit you, but I didn't expect the old general to come to the door in person today, which really makes Zhou feel honored! "Zhou Zhong is also very affectionate, the governor of the four seas he serves is a military position, and it is indispensable to deal with the army in the future, so it is also necessary to have a good relationship with this Shenying now.

Seeing Zhou Chong so enthusiastic, Shenying also felt flattered, don't look at his current official position above Zhou Chong, but in fact, during this time, Shenying's life has not been easy. Speaking of Shenying's bad luck, at the beginning of this year, someone impeached him for being too old and unsuitable for military positions, but Shenying is about the same as Zhengde, he likes to stay in the army, and although he is in his sixties, his body is very strong, even if he goes into battle to kill the enemy in person, there is no problem, so there is no problem with being a military general.

It was also Shenying who didn't want to retire from the army, so he thought of a way, that is, to bribe Liu Jin, who had not fallen at that time, and not only kept his official position, but also got the title of Earl of Jingyang, and even later put down the rebellion of King Anhua, Liu Jin also sent him over, and it can be said that the scenery is infinite for a while.

It's a pity that as the so-called 'blessing and misfortune depend', Shenying never expected that Liu Jin, who was originally powerful, would suddenly fall, and the former eunuchs were also liquidated. What's even more unfortunate is that he was also targeted by the imperial history, and even participated in a book, and he was also included in the eunuch party, but these days he is worried about fear, and even ready to return to his hometown, but he didn't expect the peak to turn around, he was actually pointed out by Zhengde to lead the troops to wear meritorious service, which made Shenying ecstatic, and after many inquiries, he knew that the matter of clearing the overlord's rebellion was thanks to Zhou Zhong's advice, which made Shenying also grateful, he had long wanted to visit the palace, It's just that I've been busy with the expedition these days, and I finally managed to squeeze out time today.

Zhou Zhong also guessed some of Shenying's intentions, and he also intended to make friends with the other party, so he was also very enthusiastic about Shenying, and after ordering someone to serve tea again, he began to talk with Shenying, and he also took this opportunity to ask Shenying about the situation of the Ming army.

According to him, the highest military organization of the Ming Dynasty is called the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies, which was originally called the Governor's Mansion, but Zhu Yuanzhang felt that the power of the Governor's Mansion was too heavy, so he divided the Governor's Mansion into five, which were the front, rear, left, right, and middle five Governor's Mansions, commanding the Beijing camp and the guards in various places.

However, the Governor's Office of the Five Armies only has the right to command the troops, but does not have the right to transfer troops, and the Ministry of War has the right to transfer troops but does not have the right to command the troops, and the two contain each other, but in the Zhengde period, the Governor's Office of the Five Armies has lost its political participation and political power, and has become an institution subject to the Ministry of War and can only simply carry out orders, which also marks the decline of the Ming Dynasty's military power.

Zhou Zhong is most concerned about the combat effectiveness of the Ming army, after all, he is about to lead the troops to the sea, although Shenying is an army general, but the things in the army are all the same, he must know better than himself.

It turned out that according to Shenying's knowledge, most of the guards across the country have been eroded, and the real combat effectiveness of the army is only left in Beijing and the border army in the north, of which the Beijing camp is divided into three battalions, namely the five military battalions, the three thousand battalions and the Shenji battalion, and the twelve regiments and battalions selected from these three battalions have frequent drills and have considerable combat effectiveness, but the Beijing battalion is stationed in the Beijing division all the year round, and there are few opportunities for actual combat.

Compared with the Beijing camp, the border army stationed in the north is the most effective army in the Ming Dynasty, the border army does not specifically refer to a certain army, but refers to the general term of the army stationed in the border areas of Gansu, Liang, Su, Xi, Ningxia, etc., these troops are stationed in the frontier all year round, almost every year there is a war with the Mongols in the south, it can be said that the actual combat ability is extremely strong, although the Beijing division also has a certain combat effectiveness, but compared with the border army, it is a useless look, but the responsibility of the border army is heavy, and it has always been impossible to leave the frontier. Therefore, when there was an accident in the Ming Dynasty, at most, he could only mobilize the Beijing camp to quell the rebellion.

After introducing the land camp, Zhou Zhong asked Shenying about the Daming Sailor again, but Shenying shook his head with a wry smile and said: "Lord Zhou, since the sea ban, my Daming has never paid much attention to the sailor, I heard that you are from Songjiang, you must also know something about the coastal guards, the coastal guards are actually the sailors, but now I'm afraid I don't even have a boat!" ”

Hearing Shenying's words, Zhou Chong also nodded with a wry smile, he also saw with his own eyes the Qingcun Qianhu Office on the other side of Songjiang, the military households in the entire Qianhu Office had already become tenant farmers of the officers, and they had no combat effectiveness at all, at most, they were holding weapons to block the road and collect taxes, and the entire Qianhu Office did not even have a boat.

"General Shenlao, most of the guards along the coast have been eroded, and I also know this, but there are still two relatively complete naval divisions stationed in Guangzhou and Ningbo, and those two naval divisions should still have a certain combat effectiveness, right?" Zhou Zhong asked again at this time, Guangzhou and Ningbo are the tributary ports of overseas vassals, and the two sailors there are also Zhou Chong's eyes for a long time, and he already plans to integrate the two sailors after taking office, as the descendant army of his own commander of the four seas.

However, hearing Zhou Zhong mention the two sailors in Guangzhou and Ningbo, Shenying still frowned and said: "Lord Zhou, although I don't know much about the sailors, but the wars are all the same, as far as I know, although the two sailors in Guangzhou and Ningbo are relatively complete, and they also have a lot of warships, but in recent decades, my Ming has never encountered any enemies from the sea, even if the sailors maintain their training, I am afraid that the best results are the same as those in Beijing, they are just some goods, and they are used to deal with those chaotic people in the country. But if it is used to fight with foreign enemies, I am afraid the situation is not optimistic! ”

Hearing Shenying's analysis, Zhou Chong also felt like he had been poured cold water on him, and his brain suddenly sobered up. Although Shenying's words are not good, but what he said is the truth, the reason why the Ming Dynasty kept the two sailors in Guangzhou and Ningbo was not for the purpose of fighting, but to show their strength to the tributary subjects, in other words, the two sailors were originally the same goods, plus they were far away from the Beijing division, I am afraid that the generals of the two sailors are not very concerned about the drill, so that the two sailors may not have any combat effectiveness at all.

Thinking of this, Zhou Chong's mood also became heavy all of a sudden, he didn't understand military affairs, except for the introduction of some more advanced weapons, he didn't know how to increase the combat effectiveness of the army. Originally, he hoped to take over two sailors who retained a certain amount of combat effectiveness, plus he knew very well about the Portuguese attack on Malacca, and when the time came, he would definitely be able to defeat the Portuguese by choosing an appropriate time to sneak attack, but he missed a little, if the two sailors had no combat effectiveness, I am afraid that even a sneak attack may not have much certainty of victory. (To be continued......)