War should always be the last resort to solve the problem when it is unavoidable, just as Sun Tzu said in the Art of War: the first army is to attack and plan, the second is to attack the enemy, the second is to attack the army, and then to attack the city.

The problem is that there are very few people who understand these things and can implement them firmly.

There are countless counter-examples in ancient and modern times, both in China and abroad.

For example, in the Qing Dynasty, Qianlong gave up Huairou and decided to solve the Jinchuan Rebellion by force, thinking that he would be able to capture it with the power of the kingdom, but he did not expect that a small piece of Tusi land would make the Qing Dynasty fall into the depths of 30 years, dragging a bunch of important ministers and famous generals to death, and costing more than 70 million taels of silver.

A few hundred years later, a certain number one power in the world has jumped into regional wars that it thinks it can afford to fight.

In comparison, Zhu Yuan knew that the one who was most determined to implement a series of offensive guidelines in "The Art of War" happened to be Zhu Yuanzhang.

Lao Zhu, who had a low start and couldn't be lower, was able to win the world in just over ten years, and as long as he could 'surrender without a fight', he would never start a war lightly.

Every time there is a big battle, Lao Zhu never minds making friends with other opponents temporarily, and never gives up even the last chance to surrender, just like Pingjiang locked the city, obviously he already has an absolute advantage, Lao Zhu still waited patiently for more than half a year, only hoping that Zhang Shicheng would take the initiative to give in.

All this avoids unnecessary loss of strength to the greatest extent.

Although this makes people who read history very unhappy, because it is often seen that Lao Zhu was still calling himself a brother and brother before, and in the blink of an eye, he was not upright enough. Or read again that this surrendered and rebelled, that rebelled and surrendered, and knew that it was so why bother in the first place, how clean it was with a knife. However, if Lao Zhu is such a reckless man, he doesn't play 'virtual', and starts fighting at every turn, not to mention that he may not be able to unify the world for more than ten or decades, and at the same time, he may make himself weaker and weaker.

Zhu Yuan took the initiative to ask for orders to come to the southeast and open up a sea grain route, and there were many problems that needed to be solved.

One of them is the many pirates that are entrenched in the islands near the sea.

The origins of these pirates are very complicated, there are coastal people who can't survive at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, Zhang Shicheng's old department, Fang Guozhen's old department, and the escaped Yuan court's old department, and even Yiliang and bandits' sea fishermen who occasionally see an opportunity to do a few votes.

If we do not deal with the problem of pirates, it will undoubtedly cause great trouble to the sea grain routes in the future.

So, what to do?

Knock them out one by one?

No way.

First of all, there are countless islands off the coast of Daming. Moreover, despite the fact that most of the islands are within 100 miles of the sea, this is not a few hundred years after having motorized boats, and a distance of tens of kilometers can be reached in an hour or two.

In the era of sailing, even if it is only a distance of thirty or fifty miles, it may take a day to walk on the sea.

Moreover, there are thousands of islands, and the pirates can find one nest in them, and the officials and soldiers may not find it for a year. Even, even if they are lucky enough to find them, they will either flee by boat or burrow into the dense forests of the island, and it will be even more difficult to exterminate them.

Therefore, after discussing with everyone, Zhu Yuan adopted some of Wang Yangming's experience in suppressing bandits in Jiangxi in his memory, and made a complete set of plans in light of reality.

The core two words are still 'attacking the heart'.

First of all, let the naval fleet brought by Hua Gao patrol in all directions, and when it encounters the pirates, it will be annihilated by the way to show its might.

Then, a public notice is widely distributed.

It is not only required that all parties surrender within a time limit, but also that they can be relieved of their responsibilities. The more than 1,000-word notice also encouraged coastal fishermen to provide clues to the authorities about the Haikou and set the rewards. At the same time, he also promised that as long as the gang killed the leader and surrendered, he would not only be exempted from the crime, but also have a heavy reward. If one group of pirates exterminates another group of pirates, and uses their achievements to surrender, they will not only be exempted from crime and rewarded, but also be able to be incorporated into the official army and obtain official positions.

And so on.

Zhu Yuan believed that as long as this notice gradually spread, even if the coastal people did not come to surrender, it would definitely cause a state of panic.

This basically achieved Zhu Yuan's goal.

Regardless of whether the people take the initiative to surrender, flee overseas, or hide for the people, it will greatly reduce the coastal trouble.

The next step is to simmer over low heat.

By strengthening the navy and opening up the seas, we will continue to improve the livelihood of the people living in the coastal areas, and completely eradicate the living space of the pirates step by step.

In comparison, the former sea ban was definitely the most stinky move.

It's like a person who has a sore on his leg, and instead of careful treatment in order to heal, he directly cuts off his leg...... The decision is decisive enough, but in the eyes of later generations, it really looks like it is not very smart.

Of course, it is also the limitation of the ancients, who thought that this 'sore' was not legal.

The south of Zhoushan, like the sea outside the mountain.

Hua Gao negotiated the terms with the former Zhang Shicheng's naval army of thousands of households, and soon successfully won this old Zhang Shicheng army with a total of six or seven hundred people.

While these people were escorted to the ship, some scribes of the fleet also went to the island and posted many notices on conspicuous boulders or tree trunks. After all this, the time was already past noon, and the south wind happened to come, Hua Gao dispelled the original idea of continuing to the south, and decided to take the opportunity to return.

Back in Dinghai, it was already evening.

The time is February 18.

On the day of the tenth day of the first month of February, he came to Mingzhou, and only eight days have passed, but Hua Gao feels that a long time has passed.

Looking at the pillar of smoke rushing up on Zhaobao Mountain outside Dinghai City, it was a recently built navigation beacon, lifting smoke during the day and lighting a fire at night. Looking at the still busy harbor construction site on the south bank of the Yongjiang River at sunset, Hua Gao woke up to the feeling that it was because in just eight days, everyone was rushed by a certain little ancestor to do too many things.

Thinking of this, Huagao was a little worried.

After leaving for three days, I hope that the little ancestor is not tired and sick again, otherwise, no matter how much credit he makes, it will only be in vain.

The fleet was berthed at the Dinghai City East Wharf, which was still temporarily used as a military port.

Hua Gao briefly explained, and asked the commander of Mingzhou Wei to meet him, and Chang Zhi to temporarily detain Yan Xun and his party in the military camp of the guard post on the shore, and also told him that he must not oppress and abuse, this group of people is of great use, and then he hurriedly entered the city with Zhao Xu and Qiao An and other entourages,

didn't even go back to his home, ran to the west of the city, and Hua Gao came directly to Zhu Yuan's camp and sea envoy's mansion.

As soon as you enter the door, you notice that the atmosphere is not right.

Passing by the gatehouse, some of the pro-soldiers in the palace who were not on duty stood or sat on the ground together, muttering, and one of them raised his hand to gessy, as if he had seen something unusual.

When I came to the main courtyard where Mingyuan Hall was located, the officials who were busy on weekdays were also some old gods today. Seeing Hua Gao and a few people appear, the two officials who were standing in a corner of the courtyard immediately stopped talking, and left in a hurry after giving a salute.

This strange atmosphere made Hua Gao only feel hairy.

Pulling over a scribe who was about to pass by absentmindedly holding a stack of papers, Hua Gao glared and asked, "What about Hanlin?" ”

The clerk seemed to be awakened suddenly, and the papers in his arms were scattered all over the ground.

Seeing that it was Hua Gao, he relieved himself, remembered the question just now, and hurriedly raised his hand and pointed in the direction of the garden on the west side.

There is still a bit of ...... in his eyes Yearning.

Yearning?!

Hua Gao didn't have time to ask more, so he pulled his legs and walked towards the west courtyard.

Hurriedly came to the garden, no need to ask, Hua Gao only saw that there were six soldiers guarding the guest flower hall with the plaque of 'Mingxin Hall' not far away, and went straight over.

Zhao Xu and Qiao An also followed quickly in confusion.

As soon as the three of them came to the door of Mingxin Hall, they saw Xue Shu of Dinghai Zhixian County with a strange expression that had been refreshed, walked out of the door in a trance, shook his head, nodded again, muttered in his mouth, ignored Hua Gao and the others like a lost soul, and walked towards the outer courtyard mechanically.

This......

What the hell is going on, so horrible and terrifying?!