Nanjing has a full set of political axe institutions, basically all of which are idle posts, among which the secretary of the Nanjing military department generally hangs the title of "counselor and machine service", and manages all the affairs of Nanjing together with the eunuchs of the town guard and the lord of the Nanjing garrison. The rest of the Nanjing Household Department and the Metropolitan Procuratorate also have some functions. However, with the expansion of the eunuch's power, the military department Shangshu was slowly overpowered by the eunuchs.

The third position is called the Nanjing Garrison Lord, referred to as the Nanjing Garrison. Generally speaking, there are many people in this position, and it is a collective name for a group. This group of people is in charge of the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies and is directly in charge of the troops. Due to the clear regulations of the Ming Dynasty, the descendants of powerful lords and nobles are not allowed to serve as civil officials, but can only serve as military generals. Therefore, most of the martial arts positions have been occupied by them.

Among these garrison lords, including Xu Yunjue, Duke of Wei, Zhu Guobi, Duke of Baoguo, Zhang Gongyue, Marquis of Longping, Li Zushu, Marquis of Linhuai, Marquis Sun Weicheng, Marquis of Lingbi, Tang Guozuo, Marquis of Anyuan, Liu Zuochang, Marquis of Yongchang, Marquis Xu Hongjue, Marquis of Dingyuan, Deng Wenyu, Marquis of Xincheng, Zhao Zhilong, Bo Chang Yingjun of Xiangcheng, Zou Cunyi, Bo of Daxing, Bo Liu Yunji, Bo Liu Yunji, Bo Nanhe, Yiyuan, Bo Jiao Mengxiong of Dongning, Bo Ancheng Zhang Guocai, Huang Jiuding, Bo Luozhong, and Guo Zuoyong of Cheng Anbo.

Naturally, the leaders are the two princes. One is a descendant of Xu Da and the other is a descendant of Zhu Yong. In addition, Xincheng Bo Zhao Zhilong is also a character. Because, when the Qing army went south, it was this Xincheng Bozhao Zhilong who led the officials to surrender to the Qing army. In addition, Zhu Guobi also has some relationship with Kou Baimen in Qin Huai Bayan.

Generally speaking, the eunuchs are the representatives of the emperor, the military department is the representative of the civil officials, and the lords are naturally the representatives of the major nobles. Among these three positions, the most powerful is, of course, the town guard eunuch. The successive eunuchs were all close associates of the emperor. Emperor Chongzhen transferred Zhang Yixian to strengthen the monitoring of Nanjing and Nanzhili. The original town guard eunuch Lu Jiude could only stand aside for the time being.

Eunuchs don't have a small **, they are generally not interested in women, their main purpose is to make money. The eunuchs in Nanjing are especially good at making money. Generally speaking, the eunuch leaving the emperor's side was more or less a loss. Because of the emperor's ass from time to time, he may fall out of favor at any time. For example, Gao Qiqian would not leave the emperor's side even if he died, let alone be sent to Nanjing. Wang Kun was sent to Xuanfu as a town guard eunuch, and he was also reluctant. Therefore, once the eunuch was sent to Nanjing, he had to desperately loot for money, and then continue to maintain close contact with the emperor.

What did Emperor Chongzhen lack the most? The most scarce thing is food and silver. As long as you keep giving him money and food through certain channels, he will think that you are a capable person. The eunuchs are all as cunning as foxes, so they naturally understand the truth. To seize money, we must first arrest people, and first of all, we must replace officials at all levels with people who know how to honor themselves. In this way, every time Nanjing changed the eunuchs, it meant that a large number of personnel had to be replaced.

Jiang ** inspection department, in fact, is just a seven-grade institution. In terms of grade, it is simply impossible to enter the eyes of the leaders of all parties. However, due to its special powers, this makes it a sought-after position. The successive eunuchs were unwilling to let go.

The maritime trade of the Ming Dynasty was still very developed. In addition to the ships going to sea along the coasts of Guangdong, Fujian, and Zhejiang, there are also quite a few ships departing from the inland of the Yangtze River. The ships entering and exiting the mouth of the Yangtze River can be described as endless. When the merchant ships passing by the Jiangyin Inspection Division, they must send filial piety. That's a stable and generous income!

According to the prisoner's confession, the filial piety collected by the inspection department was several hundred taels of silver every day. At the end of the year, there were even more, thousands of taels a day. Over the course of a year, there are easily hundreds of thousands of taels. And that's not even counting the annual filial piety of those big merchants. If you add those filial piety, maybe there will be millions of taels of silver. Such an oily and watery department is, of course, the big fat of all the town guards and eunuchs.

Zhang Yixian was originally a good money-maker. He originally helped Emperor Chongzhen manage the imperial village. originally did a good job, but as a result, I don't know where I offended Gao Qiqian, and was secretly instigated by Gao Qiqian Chongzhen, so he was sent to Nanjing. Well, in fact, it's not a distribution, in fact, the grade is upgraded. But, after all, it was left by the emperor's side, wasn't it? For eunuchs, it is very dangerous to leave the emperor's side, and someone will replace the emperor's favor at any time.

Therefore, after Zhang Yixian came to Nanjing, he desperately tried to find a way to make money in order to win back Chongzhen's favor to him. He quickly replaced the original Jiangyin patrol and replaced it with his own person, a person named Liao Dake. Liao Dake took office as a new official, of course, he had to slap Zhang Yixian's ass desperately. Seeing that the Chinese New Year was approaching, Liao Dake naturally ordered his subordinates to increase the intensity of inspections.

The Jiangyin Inspection Division has a total of five patrol boats, all of which have been dispatched. Any ship found to have not been handed over will be seized. Of course, most of the merchant ships, in order to avoid extraneous branches, will take the initiative to send filial piety. It can be said that December is the most nourishing month for the Jiangyin Inspection Division, and one month's income is as good as the usual two months.

Maritime trade in the Ming Dynasty was free of taxation. The annual trade volume of Fujian tea reaches one million taels of silver, but the annual tea tax is only more than 30 taels of silver. This is evident from this. However, if contraband is found on board, the entire cargo can be confiscated, and the owner can even be held responsible. This is where the power of the Jiangyin Inspection Department lies. What is contraband? It was not explicitly stated, it was all the Jiangyin Inspection Department that had the final say. In this way, there is a lot of room for manipulation.

The most contraband is naturally the goods that are exported to the book. After the Ming Dynasty opened the sea ban, there was a sentence in the edict, called "communicate things and go to and from Xiyi". This sentence is very sophisticated. Why is it so sophisticated? Because Ben is not among them. The edict deliberately omitted the word "Dongyi". To put it simply, you can do business with Westerners (Xiyi), but you are not allowed to do business with yourself (Dongyi). If you ship the goods to the capital, it is illegal, and I can detain you.

During the Wanli period, the army of the Ming Dynasty and the army of the Ming Dynasty fought fiercely in Korea. As a result, the army was beaten to pieces and was completely defeated. Several so-called military gods in their own country were beaten to the point that their noses were blue and their faces were swollen, and those who threw away their armor ran back to the country, even calling Daming invincible. Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who said that his generation of heroes, was also so angry that he vomited blood, and soon died of depression. The strength of the whole country is not as good as a slap in the face of the Ming Dynasty, and it is no wonder that the monkey vomited blood to death.

Since then, it has not been a trading partner of China. Why? Hold a grudge! At the same time, it is also to prevent his wolf ambitions from breaking out again. Emperor Wanli's vision is very accurate, and he is always not at ease with himself. His meaning is very simple, anyone can do business with the Ming Dynasty, but you can't do it in the first place. I'm just going to block you and make it impossible for you to develop.

Subsequently, whether it was the Apocalypse or Chongzhen's succession, it continued the will of Emperor Wanli. It is said that Ben has not been able to trade normally with the Ming Dynasty. Although there are constantly cargo ships quietly running towards the book, in fact, they can't be put on the stage, and it is against the law to really say it. There are just and fair reasons to kill the head and steal the family.

Why is Zheng Zhilong's offshore profits so huge? It is to occupy the market of this book. He very skillfully took advantage of this space. Of course, the imperial court knew about this pirate leader, but they also had no choice but to turn a blind eye to Zheng Zhilong. In fact, from this point of view, Zheng Zhilong is also a big Han Jian, or his own Han Jian. However, from another point of view, if you don't do business with yourself, you will let the Westerners rob you of your money, which is also a big loss!

When the Jiajing Sea was banned, it happened to be the Warring States Period, and there were a lot of military materials needed, because the Ming Dynasty did not export materials, they could only buy them from Westerners, and what iron cannons and the like were sold by the Portuguese. The Portuguese have really made a lot of money in their business with him. If this silver is earned by the Ming Dynasty, it is also a good choice. Why give the silver for nothing, why don't you give it to others, don't want it yourself!

In fact, before the Meiji Restoration, it was impossible for him to pose a threat to China. The Tang Dynasty was beaten at the mouth of the Baijiang River, and since then he has never dared to say anything about going out of the East and the emperor, and he has obediently sent Tang envoys every year. During the Song Dynasty, he was also very well-behaved. Only when it came to the Yuan Dynasty, what kind of kamikaze made Yue Ben arrogant. As a result, in the Ming Dynasty, he was beaten up again, and even the monkey was angry to death.

It's a pity that when he arrived in the Manchu Dynasty, he was no longer angry, so that he vented all his new and old hatreds. In the past, it was said that he sent silver to China, but the Manchu Qing Dynasty sent silver to himself. It can be seen that what I can deal with is just a foreign regime in China. Well, Chang Kaishen doesn't count, his regime has never been stable.

…… Far from it.

The inspection department on the river is using communication as an excuse to extort passing merchant ships. If the relevant filial piety is not delivered in time, the goods, ships, and even people will be detained. Normally, at the end of a month, the inspection department will detain two or three merchant ships that do not know the rules. The owner of the merchant ship, after learning about the doorway, in order to avoid greater losses, will naturally obediently send filial piety. Therefore, since the establishment of the Inspection Division, there has been no mistake.

However, as for why the Inspection Department wanted to detain Shen Lingfei's Sanqi, the surviving inspectors did not know anything. For the Shen family in Suzhou, they know. In the past, when the Shen family's ships passed by, they were automatically released. Only this time, it was a direct order from above, asking to intercept Shen Lingfei's ship. The person leading the team is Cui Jianshi, maybe he knows the inside story. It's a pity that he was killed by Zhang Zhun.

This question has to go to Jiangyin to find the answer.

After sailing for most of the day, the two ships of Fuhai and Ninghai finally slowly approached Jiangyin.

Jiangyin, located at the head of the sea at the end of the Yangtze River and the throat of the Yangtze River, has been a fortress of river defense since ancient times, and a place where soldiers must fight. In the Ming Dynasty, Jiangyin was already quite famous. For example, at the beginning of Zhengde in the Ming Dynasty, the eunuch Liu Jin was good at government and misguided the country, and the three Jiangyin people in the dynasty - the chief Huang Zhao, Yu Shi Gong Anfu, and Shi Liangzuo, either to save the death of the admonition, or to play the chapter of resentment. Li Xu called it "Jiangyin's Three Loyalties" in "The Old Man's Pen of the Ring Nunnery"; There was also a brave eunuch Wei Zhongxian, who generously went to prison and died of torture, and was included in the "Seven Gentlemen of Donglin" Miao Changqi and Li Yingsheng.

After Chongzhen's suicide, the Qing army went south, slaughtered Jiangnan, and the people of Jiangyin held the lonely city alone for 81 days under the leadership of the three princes of the Qing Dynasty (known as Jiangyin 81 in history), and no one surrendered after the martyrdom of the whole city. The Ming "Chongzhen Jiangyin County Chronicle" commented that Jiangyin "is not only a city of courtesy, but also a state of loyalty, the bottom pillar of the Yangtze River, and the southeast of the Yangtze River." It can be seen that the blood surname of Jiangyin people.

However, Jiangyin at this moment, in Zhang Zhun's eyes, is not a good place. No matter how good the place is, if there is a yamen like the Inspection Division, it will stink. He didn't come to admire the people of Jiangyin, but to find the bad luck of the Inspection Division.

In fact, along the way, the merchant ships that came and went subconsciously avoided Fuhai and Ninghai, for fear that their two ships would come up. It can be seen from this what kind of image the inspection department has among businessmen. There is such a roadblock tiger here, sucking out a few hundred taels of profits out of thin air, which businessman is willing?

Yang Guohua said with a smile: "They treat us as people from the inspection department. ”

Zhang Zhun said lightly: "Aren't we from the Inspection Division?" ”

Yang Guohua couldn't help laughing.

Except for the two red flags on the top of the mast, Fuhai and Ninghai, in appearance, there is no change. From the outside, you can't see it at all. If Zhang Zhun and them put on the clothes of the inspection department and stop a few merchant ships at random, the other party would not be able to obediently send filial piety?

"My lord, Jiangyin Wharf is about to arrive. Do we moor at a civilian wharf or at a dedicated wharf for the Inspection Division? "A naval officer came to ask for instructions.

"Docked at a dedicated dock." Zhang Zhun said in a deep voice.

The naval officer agreed.

Soon, Fuhai and Ninghai began to adjust their course and approached the special wharf of the Inspection Division. Jiangyin is located on the south side of the Yangtze River, and the wharf is of course also on the south side of the Yangtze River. After the ship adjusted its course, it was sailing downwind. Blown by the wind, Fuhai and Ninghai suddenly accelerated, and the south bank of the Yangtze River was soon in sight.

"Prepare for battle!"

Zhang Zhun shouted coldly.

The warriors on both ships, both armed with weapons, were ready for battle.

(To be continued)