Isolated on the coast of Yakushima Island on the side of the Osumi Strait in the southernmost part of Kyushu Island, the vast blue ocean is constantly surging and crashing against the rocks on the shore, making a roar of collapse and snow-white foam.

At this time, a middle-aged man in his forties, with slightly bald sideburns, thick and neat eyebrows, and a pair of sparkling eyes, was standing near the shore, looking at the sea in the distance. This person is the Wang Zhi that Zhengliang cares about.

While Zhengliang was jealous of him, Wang Zhi was also jealous of Zhengliang.

The first thing Wang Zhi was afraid of was the force represented by this named Luo Zhengliang. When he first arrived here with the fleet, this Luo clan Zhengliang's power was already very strong, and in order to avoid fighting with him, he had a deal with the other party.

It's just that with the development of these years, the power of Luo Zhengliang has become bigger and bigger, not only constantly expanding his power on the distant island called Kyushu by the locals, but also almost monopolizing the trade with the Ming and Korean maritime smugglers, and even the trade of the Southern Barbarians.

Now, the other party has conquered one of his trading partners (the Shimazu family) with which he has managed to deal with him, and from then on, the distant island can only be decided by this Luo Zhengliang. And their own forces will also have to further contact each other.

In addition to being jealous of the forces behind Luo Zhengliang, Wang Zhi is also a little jealous of Luo Zhengliang. Previously, Luo Zhengliang had commissioned his righteous son Wang Yu (i.e., Mao Haifeng) to bring him a map and a letter.

This map was a simple nautical chart, and after reading this map, he realized that there was such a vast sea area and land in the west of the Ming Kingdom. Of course. Since it is impossible to judge its truth. So at the beginning, Wang Zhi didn't attach much importance to this map. But after he found a few Nanban fanzi to study this map, and these Nanban fanzi pointed out the authenticity and preciousness of this map with red eyes, he knew the preciousness of this map.

It can be said that this is a map of the road to wealth! After all, Wang Zhi is also a seafarer, and he also has an ambition in his heart to gallop the sea and control more territory.

If the map given to him by Luo Zhengliang brought him great shock, then that letter brought him even more shock and even fear.

In his letter, Luo Zhengliang directly pointed out the kind of intention in his heart to return to his hometown. However, his mind became a tool used by the interests of officials, merchants, and local tyrants along the Ming coast, making Wang Zhi a knife for them to plunder the wealth of the coastal areas of the Ming Kingdom and attract the attention of the Ming Dynasty sailors and other court forces. And the harm caused to the ordinary people in the coastal areas after Wang Zhi became a knife. but it will leave him to the next generation.

Wang Zhi was not too touched by Luo Zhengliang's views on the use of him by corrupt officials and gentry along the coast of the Ming Kingdom, after all, he also grew up from a pile of pirates, and he has long been accustomed to this kind of thing of calculating and using each other for the sake of profit.

But the view of Luo Zhengliang that he would leave a stinking future generation made him feel a little scared. As Luo Zhengliang expected, the main reason why he used pirate power to make such a big splash along the coast of the Ming Kingdom was to force the Ming court to recognize his status, so that he could return to his hometown in his lifetime.

Now it is directly pointed out by Luo Zhengliang, under the use and prevention of those interest groups behind it (after all, he surrendered, these groups will lose important profit tools.) This is an important reason why Wang Zhi was finally killed in history), and he could not be recognized by the Ming court. Not only will it be impossible to return to his hometown, but he will also be passed on to future generations as a thief and be reviled by future generations.

When he thinks of such a scene, Wang Zhi can often wake up from his sleep. The words in Masaliang's letter directly point out the problems that he had not been aware of before. Of course, he didn't fully believe the words in Luo's letter, but he was indeed touched a lot.

So, in the days that followed, he did slightly reduce his actions against the Ming coast, and according to what Luo Zhengliang said in his letter, "Since it is impossible to make the Ming court compromise at this time, why not consider using the map below to build a greater force overseas, so that Your Excellency can face the Ming court in a more honorable capacity in the future", and sent people to the western sea to find a larger land. He did have the power to build up a larger force, so that in the future, the Ming court would have to pay attention to his ideas. And just as Luo Zhengliang said, even if the Ming court still did not respond, with his achievements overseas, it was enough to be praised by future generations.

It is precisely because of this that the local area of Wakoku has become an important rear support location for his development to the western seas, so he has maintained cooperation with the Luo family and vigorously developed relations with local wealthy families such as the Shimazu family. Later, not only did they sell iron cannons, saltpeter and other materials to the Shimazu family at high prices, but also secretly violated the cooperation agreement with the Luo family on the condition that the Shimazu family paid a large amount of gold, and sent some of his men to pretend to be the Shimazu family's army and join the local power struggle on Kyushu Island.

In fact, when he first came to Kyushu Island, because he was unfamiliar with the place, and the Luo family was the most powerful force in the area, Wang Zhi's focus at that time was on the coast of the Ming Kingdom, so there was a trade agreement signed with the Luo family (which clearly stated that he should not intervene in conflicts related to the Luo family). But later, as his power along the coast of the Ming Kingdom was constantly suppressed by the Ming State sailors, and with the letter of Luo Zhengliang, he gradually turned part of his focus to the local area.

Therefore, during this period, in addition to normal trade with the Luo family, he also had contact and cooperation with local forces called Satsuma, Shikoku, and even further afield in Tokaido. Geographically, however, Kyushu was closer to the coastal areas of the Ming Kingdom, while Shikoku was not only farther away from the Tokaido region, but the locals did not seem to be willing to join his naval army, so Wang Zhi still focused more on the Kyushu Island area, and even tried to support the Shimazu family through guò. Thus establishing a local agent in Kyushu. In the end, we will achieve the goal of creating another place where we have established ourselves overseas.

It's just that. This goal was destroyed in an instant with the rapid expansion of the Luo family and the defeat of the Shimazu family. In this regard, it was impossible for Wang Zhi not to be angry, but Wang Zhi still did not dare to conflict with the Luo family. Because the Luo family's naval army was also very powerful at this time, if he wanted to defeat the Luo family's naval army, he had to concentrate the fleets from all over the world here, so as to start a decisive battle with the Luo family.

But even if he won the final battle, he won badly. Moreover, the most powerful part of the Luo family's power lies in its power on land. And what did Wang Zhi spend so much money for? Not to build a foundation on land? Then it will naturally be against the land forces of the Luo family. Then your side is likely to lose because of this. After all, the other side is not only powerful on land, but also has local roots and can receive a steady stream of support. And they just have no foundation.

"It seems that we still need to send someone to discuss with the Luo family!"

Wang Zhi was originally a businessman, and in the case of more defeats and fewer victories, he naturally hoped to compete for a large enough interest while trying to avoid conflicts with the Luo family. What's more, in Wang Zhi's opinion, in addition to the huge power of Luo Zhengliang, Luo Zhengliang also made him feel a little frightened.

Not only did the other party seem to have mastered a very powerful navigation technique (there was a navigation map in his hand that made Nanban Fanzi blush), but he could see his heart's intentions at a glance, which made him feel naked-naked in front of the other party's eyes. It's a really bad feeling. So Wang Zhi is really jealous of Luo's Zhengliang.

It's just that even now I plan to continue to deepen the relationship with the Luo family. It's not an easy thing to do! The matter of sending people to assist the Shimazu family has been exposed, and the Luo family is also very angry about it, not only suspending trade with their own side, but also sending people to protest.

What made Wang Zhi even more troubled was that the more than 200 subordinates sent to assist the Shimazu family were also in the hands of the Luo family at this time. These people must also be brought back from the Luo family no matter what, otherwise their own strength will not only be weakened, but also those generals under them will be dissatisfied with this.

"It looks like we're going to give up a lot of benefits."

So after being mentally prepared to be slaughtered by the Luo family, Wang Zhi once again sent his righteous son Wang Yu (i.e., Mao Haifeng), who had always been the representative of his own side to trade with the Luo family, to the Luo family to ask for a meeting with Zhengliang.

After Masarashi met with the other party in the Satsuma country, he only temporarily left Wang Shu in the local area, but he thought about it himself.

In Zhengliang's memory, according to historical records, in fact, Wang Zhi at this time should have been welcomed ashore by Hu Zongxian, the governor of Zhejiang and Nanzhili in the Ming Dynasty, but in the struggle of interest groups within the Ming Dynasty, he was finally beheaded at the Guangang Law Field in Hangzhou at the end of this year.

In this life, it was due to the appearance of Zhengliang and his persuasion, so that at this time, Hu Zongxian, the governor of Zhejiang and Nanzhili of the Ming Kingdom, had not played a role in the persuasion of Wang Zhi (of course, despite this, the famous people in history, Yu Dayou and Qi Jiguang, still made contributions to the encirclement and suppression of pirates along the coast).

From this point of view, there are still a lot of changes to the course of history by the little butterfly Masara, the most notable example is Tachibana Michiyuki. Historically, Hanamichi Yuki died of illness on the way to the expedition in his eighties, but now he was martyred early when the Otomo family perished, and Tachibana Michiyuki's daughter, Tachibana Chiyo, who was originally born a few years later, was also held accountable for the failure of the Luo family and the Otomo family at the beginning, so he was confined to the house for more time, so he had more time to discuss life with his wife and concubine, so Tachibana Chiyo was born early.

Maybe other people will be alarmed by this change, after all, it is very likely that the history they know will change, so that they will lose the advantage of being familiar with history, but Masahiro is not worried about this at all, since the opportunity has appeared, then hurry up and seize it, where is there still so much time to consider whether it will affect the entire historical process? Grasp the qiē in front of you, this is the royal road to survive in this Warring States era.

As for Wang Zhi, in fact, Zhengliang doesn't have much affection. Although the scourge of piracy that occurred along the coast of the Ming Kingdom was fundamentally due to the Ming Dynasty's maritime ban, it was no matter what. Wang Zhi is a person who is selfish. However, many ordinary people along the coast of the Ming Kingdom fell into dire straits. This is unforgivable.

What's more, Wang Zhi is still a political idiot. Although he is indeed a heroic man who can gallop in the pirate pile, he is really an idiot in politics, is a sovereign country that you can threaten as a pirate? If it is compromised with you, where is the dignity of a great country (the Ming Kingdom is very particular about these at this time)? How can the interest groups behind it be good people? If you surrender, you will betray them, will they make you feel better?

In fact, in history, when Wang Zhi was persuaded by Hu Zongxian to surrender and go ashore. It was used by some interest groups that secretly colluded with Wang Zhi at the beginning (on the grounds that Hu Zongxian suspected that Hu Zongxian had accepted bribes from Wang Zhi, which caused public indignation. thus forcing Hu Zongxian to defend himself and hand over Wang Zhi) to Wang Bengu, who was even more resentful of pirates, and then added fuel to the fire from behind, so that Emperor Jiajing, who had not yet made up his mind about how to deal with Wang Zhi, finally decided to behead Wang Zhi.

Therefore, Wang Zhi is really a political idiot, you betrayed those coastal interest groups in order to return to your hometown with honor, so that these groups lost the tools to make money and attract firepower, and even more so that these interest groups hoped that the emperor's attempt to lift the ban on the sea failed, so that. In their eyes, Wang Zhi not only had no use value, but also became a beheading knife held high above their heads (they were afraid that Wang Zhi would be exposed in the future). Naturally, he was determined to kill Wang Zhi with full force.

Since Wang Zhi is such a person, why didn't Zhengliang kill him? This is because Zhengliang knows very well that with the existence of the Ming Dynasty's maritime ban and coastal interest groups, if a Wang Zhi dies, there will be a new Wang Zhi, in this case, why not get along with the current Wang Zhi, who has a good relationship with the Luo family?

What's more, the Luo family is constantly developing, and Wang Zhi's power is also developing, and at present, in terms of the situation of the two water armies, they are really equal in terms of strength, so naturally they can't lose both and be profited by others. Therefore, Wang Zhi is jealous of Zhengliang, and Zhengliang is also jealous of Wang Zhi.

In history, the reason why Wang Zhi was able to claim hegemony on the coast of Kyushu Island was because after Wang Zhi's forces arrived on the coast of Kyushu Island, they established good cooperative relations with the Matsuura family in Hizen Province and the Shimazu family in Satsuma Province, and gradually integrated with local forces and people, and used wealth to attract more people to join his camp to plunder resources along the coast of Ming (in history, the Japanese who invaded the coast of Ming were mainly from Hizen Province and Satsuma Province on Kyushu Island), thus transforming the local area into its foundation.

In this life, due to the early appearance of the Luo family in Hizen Province and the rapid annexation of various forces on Kyushu Island, Wang Zhi's forces lost many opportunities to cooperate with local forces after arriving here, delaying or even curbing their plans to establish a foundation in the local area.

It's just that, even so, Wang Zhi's power is very strong, and he can be on a par with the Luo family's navy, in order to avoid losing both, Zhengliang naturally does not want to clash with him.

Moreover, because of Wang Zhi's cunzài, the naval divisions and other imperial forces along the coast of the Ming Kingdom focused their attention on the coastal pirate forces led by them, so that the Ming smugglers such as Wang Hai, You Jianxia, and Zuo Moyang, who had a good relationship with the Luo family, secretly developed greatly, and until now, these three people have joined forces with the Ming people who represent the power of the Luo family, and established secret strongholds in many places along the southern coast of the Ming Kingdom, on the one hand, they continue to smuggle profits. On the one hand, it is to assist the Luo family to send the desperate refugees in the Ming Kingdom to settle in the Luo family's territory.

At this time, within the Ming Kingdom, all kinds of natural disasters continued, coupled with the corruption of officialdom, which led to the generation of a large number of refugees, and it was impossible for the local officials not to know that the Chamber of Commerce of Shi and others secretly transferred the refugees, but they were able to quickly get away these refugees who affected their political performance, and they were already very happy, and they could secretly receive a lot of filial piety, so they were naturally very dedicated to turning a blind eye.

After earning a lot of benefits on the southern coast of the Ming Kingdom, Shi and the others also prepared to establish some secret bases in the northeast region, and also prepared to continue the smuggling business there on the one hand, and assist in the transfer of Ming refugees to settle in Luo's house on the other.

In such a situation, it is natural that Wang Zhi needs to make every effort to attract the attention of the Ming court forces in the Ming side, in addition, due to the lack of combat effectiveness of the Luo family's naval army in the far sea. In this case. If there is a conflict between the Luo family and Wang Zhi. Even if Wang Zhi was defeated, Wang Zhi's defeated sailors were able to constantly harass the Luo family's coastal areas, and even snatch the ships of the Luo family's forces on the sea trade route between Ming and Kyushu Island.

You must know that in addition to the merchant ships of Shi and others who need to rely on this sea trade route, the fleet of the Ming forces that the Luo family has gone to the Ming Kingdom three times before to conduct exploration and trade is also easy to attack.

Speaking of the Kana trade, in history, this period was extremely profitable for the trade of the Ming Kingdom, at the beginning of the Muromachi period. It was in order to obtain a formal status of exploration and trade that Ashikaga Yoshimitsu would submit to the Ming Kingdom, and he also gained a great deal of wealth and became the most powerful shogun of the Ashikaga family in all generations; His son, Ashikaga Yoshimori, was reluctant to be a vassal and cut off trade, and the power of the Ashikaga clan gradually shrank. After the Onin War, the Hosokawa clan took control of the government and used Sakai Town as a base to carry out trade with the Ming Dynasty, which brought about a century of prosperity in Sakai Town, and the Hosokawa family also maintained its prosperity for decades.

It also flourished because of the trade with Ming. There is also the Ouchi family in Kyushu. Originally, the Ouchi family was mainly engaged in trade with Korea, but saw that Ashikaga Yoshimitsu had made huge profits from the Ming Kingdom. Therefore, relying on the convenient geographical location, the port of Hakata was used as a base and the transportation of the Ming Kingdom to seize the trade share of the center. Although Ashikaga Yoshimitsu fought against the Ouchi family and killed Yoshihiro Ouchi in the "Onaga War" in 1399, the Ouchi family remained the same, and has always maintained its position as the number one daimyo in Kyushu and even in the western country. It wasn't until Tao Longfang killed Ouchi Yoshitaka and supported Ouchi Haruei (Otomo Yoshijin's younger brother) that the Ming court severed the exploration trade between the two families on the grounds that Haruying was not the orthodox of the Ouchi family.

It's just that in this life, although Ouchi Yoshitaka was killed by Tao Longfang, and he also made Ouchi Yoshicho a puppet, so that the Ouchi family in the western region at that time was not a ghost or a ghost, but after all, Ouchi Yoshitaka's sister-in-law Ouchi Yoshizun followed Ouchi Yoshitaka's last order before his death, and took Ochi Yoshimi, Nijo Yoshitoyo and others to defect to the Luo family.

And three years ago, Masara asked Ouchi Yoshizun to take the flower seal of the Ouchi family and other objects to prove his identity, under the banner of the orthodox Ouchi family, and once again went to the Ming Kingdom to conduct exploration and trade. When the fleet arrived in the local area, after the local personnel such as Shi spent a lot of silver and gold to dot up, they really let the Ming court recognize the orthodox identity of Ouchi Yizun, so that the Luo family was able to continue to carry out exploration and trade with the Ming Kingdom under the banner of the Ouchi family.

Now, in the case that the Luo family relies so much on this sea trade route between the Ming Kingdom and Kyushu Island for trade, smuggling and the relocation of Ming refugees, it is natural that there is not much conflict with Wang Zhi, who has the ability to fight in the open sea, of course, in order to reduce the dependence on this trade route, Masashi has already discussed with Shi and others, and after the northeast coastal stronghold of the Ming Kingdom is arranged, he will consider whether to concentrate his forces and pretend to be pirates, which will be between the northeast coast of the Ming Kingdom, the coast of North Korea and the coast of Kyushu Island. At this time, Jeju Island, which was also entrenched in many pirates and smugglers from various countries, was in its hands. In this way, the Luo family will naturally control more maritime trade routes, so that they will be more calm when facing maritime threats.

It's just that now without controlling other maritime trade routes, and lacking enough naval forces to fight in the far seas, Zhengliang not only can't clash with Wang Zhi, but also needs the other party's assistance in providing escort protection for the Luo family's ships in the sea, so as to divide the interests of trade with Wang Zhi, otherwise even if the other party is now afraid of the Luo family's power and has no change, but under the lure of the expanding Luo family's trade interests with the Ming Kingdom, sooner or later they will attack the Luo family's fleet.

What's more, Zhengliang also intends to further cooperate with Wang Zhi, and once again encourage Wang Zhi to develop to the west, the primary target is Taiwan, it is estimated that the Zheng family at this time has also begun to develop in Taiwan, Zhengliang naturally hopes to encourage Wang Zhi to get involved here, and then participate in the maritime trade in this region as a partner.

Of course, even if you consider cooperating with Wang Zhi, but this time Wang Zhi took the initiative to tear up the agreement between the two parties, and he must be punished, otherwise it will cause Wang Zhi to think that the Luo family is weak and can be bullied, which will cast a shadow on the cooperation between the two sides in the future, and make the Luo family fall into a weak side in the future cooperation. This is naturally what the Ministry of Political Affairs and Ethics wants.

As for whether it is necessary to consider whether Wang Zhi's side will tear up the agreement again in the future? This is almost unnecessary, since the other party is a pirate, there must be this possibility. It all depends on whether the Luo family is getting stronger and stronger, and whether the naval army under his command will gradually form a powerful long-distance combat capability.

Just like the principle that Zhengliang has always respected, all covenants and agreements are based on the strength of both sides. Otherwise, even if it is cooperation or alliance, the weaker side will be in a weak or even subordinate position.

As for whether Wang Zhi's side will become weak in the future? This is also difficult to determine, after all, it is possible that the other party still ran back to the shore of the Ming Kingdom to die, or it is possible that he was betrayed by his subordinates like Wang Zhiqi's experience.

(Thanks to the monthly pass support of "Baishi Jing, Spring, and Wisdom Angel"; Thanks to "FinalFanyasy" for their support of 588 pips. Khan, I guess it's Monday, you can't lift your spirits, but I still ask for support, even if you vote for a recommendation, it is a great support for this book! (To be continued......)