Li Qiufeng's face changed, and he said: "It turns out that Mrs. is a descendant of the Zhejiang Dongfang clan, disrespectful, disrespectful." ”

Mrs. Sha smiled slightly and said, "I heard my sister say that Gongzi Li is on an errand in Jinyiwei, and it is not good to know about our Fang family's reputation in the imperial court?"

Li Qiufeng's face was embarrassed, and he didn't know how to speak for a while.

It turned out that Fang Guozhen was a native of Huangyan, Taizhou, a tenant farmer, born with a strong force, and was said to be extremely powerful, and could strangle a running horse with his bare hands. In the last years of the Mengyuan Dynasty, the world was in turmoil, Fang Guozhen made a living by selling illicit salt at the beginning, and was later framed by the enemy, and the government sent people to chase and kill, Fang Guozhen resisted, killed the messenger and the enemy who came to chase and kill him, and fled into the sea with his brother Fang Guozhang, younger brother Fang Guoying, and Fang Guomin. Fang Guozhen was fair and famous in the local area, and the villagers heard that he was oppressed by the government and fled to a desert island in the sea, so they came to defect one after another. In the past few months, Fang Guozhen gathered thousands of people and led them to loot the grain by sea from time to time. The Yuan army besieged several times, but was defeated by Fang Guozhen. At that time, the Mengyuan court was corrupt, and the Mengyuan cavalry that dominated the world in the past had long lost its former combat effectiveness, and the Yuan army was not familiar with naval warfare, so it was helpless in the face of Fang Guozhen's thousands of sailors.

After Fang Guozhen defeated the Yuan army several times, the Mengyuan court knew that this group of bandits could not be underestimated, and it could not be eliminated in a hurry. At that time, there was also Zhang Shicheng's righteous army in eastern Zhejiang, which posed a greater threat to the Yuan army. The commander of the local Yuan army strongly advocated the surrender of Fang Guozhen to eliminate Zhang Shicheng's troops with all his might. Although Fang Guozhen defeated the Yuan army several times, his own casualties were also very heavy, and his men and horses were alone overseas, and it was extremely difficult to supply personnel. His advisers gave him an idea, first make peace with the imperial court, and strive to obtain a piece of land in eastern Zhejiang to supply personnel, and then wait for the opportunity to move.

Fang Guozhen adopted the advice of the strategists, and expressed to the commander of the Yuan army that he accepted Zhao'an, but he was adrift on the sea, and the soldiers worked hard to live, hoping to carve out a piece of territory in eastern Zhejiang for the stationing of troops. The commander of the Yuan army was not an idiot, and naturally knew that if he agreed to Fang Guozhen's request, it would be tantamount to raising a tiger. It's just that the imperial court is urging very urgently, and Zhang Shicheng is getting bigger and bigger, so the commander of the Yuan army has a plan, and sends someone to say to Fang Guozhen, the territory can be given to you, but most of the eastern part of Zhejiang has been occupied by Zhang Shicheng, if Fang Guozhen wants to take a place to garrison troops, he will lead troops to crusade against Zhang Shicheng, if Zhang Shicheng can be repulsed, the seized territory is Fang Guozhen's.

Fang Guozhen knew that the commander of the Yuan army did not have any good intentions, but he was just ready to send it. If he did not get supplies, the army under his command would be wiped out at sea. It was he who agreed to accept the court's recruitment, and was ordered to crusade against Zhang Shicheng. After Fang Guozhen's army landed, it engaged in a fierce battle with Zhang Shicheng's army. At this time, Fang Guozhen was already red-eyed in order to seize the territory, although his soldiers and horses were far less than Zhang Shicheng's army, but they were united in seven battles and seven victories, and finally fought a decisive battle with Zhang Shicheng in Kunshan. Zhang Shicheng's whole army was scattered and he was unable to fight again, so he surrendered to the Yuan army like Fang Guozhen.

After this battle, the whole province of Zhejiang was ostensibly under the control of the Yuan army. The imperial court was overjoyed when it received the report from the commander of the local Yuan army. Fang Guozhen sent people to Beijing secretly to bribe the imperial court, and soon the holy decree arrived in Zhejiang, and granted Fang Guozhen to transport ten thousand households by sea, and soon promoted Fang Guozhen to participate in politics in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces. Although these official positions were all fictitious and had no real power, Fang Guozhen got rid of the pressure of the Yuan army and firmly controlled Qingyuan, Wenzhou, Taizhou and other places to which eastern Zhejiang belonged.

Although Fang Guozhen has little reading, he is extremely wise. He knew that the Mengyuan court was not at ease with him, but the rebel army was everywhere, and the world was in turmoil, so he temporarily used his own troops to work for him. Once the Yuan army extinguished the rebel armies everywhere, it changed hands and wanted to destroy itself. It was Fang Guozhen who was in a state of weakness with the Mengyuan court on the one hand, but recruited troops on the other hand, especially the establishment of a powerful naval army. secretly exchanged songs with Zhang Shicheng, Zhu Yuanzhang and others, expanded their strength, and watched the situation in the world.

After that, Zhu Yuanzhang's power increased day by day, and he recruited Fang Guozhen several times. Fang Guozhen became friends with Zhu Yuanzhang on the one hand, and still accepted Meng Yuan's reward on the other. Its purpose is to sit on the mountain and watch the tiger fight, in order to reap the benefits of the fisherman. It's just that he didn't expect that Zhu Yuanzhang's subordinates and generals were really the elite of the world, and within a few years, he first destroyed Chen Youliang, then defeated Zhang Shicheng, and then sent the generals Xu Da and Chang Yuchun to the Northern Expedition to defeat the Yuan army.

At that time, Fang Guozhen was to compete with Zhu Yuanzhang and befriend Timur, the commander of the Yuan army. Timur, also known as Wang Baobao, was the most powerful general in Mengyuan. It's just that although this person is good at leading troops, he is stubborn and has a lot of trouble with his colleagues and the emperor. Later, several generals of the Mengyuan army actually led troops to besiege Timur. Xu Da and Chang Yuchun's Northern Expedition took advantage of this opportunity to attack Dadu successfully. By the time Timur defeated the other Yuan armies, Xu and Chang had already taken the capital, and their troops were directed towards Shanxi.

Fang Guozhen faced great pressure from Zhu Yuanzhang in Zhejiang, so he asked for help from Timur. At that time, Timur was in Shanxi to deal with the army of Xu and Chang with all his might, and he had no spare strength to help Fang Guozhen. In September of that year, Zhu Yuanzhang sent generals Zhu Liangzu, Tang He, Liao Yongzhong and others to attack Fang Guozhen. Fang Guozhen knew that with his own troops, he was no longer the opponent of Zhu Yuanzhang's army at this time, so he would return to Zhu Yuanzhang in November. Zhu Yuanzhang was also trustworthy and did not embarrass Fang Guozhen. In the second year of Hongwu, Fang Guozhen was awarded the fictitious title of Zuo Cheng of Guangxi Province, but the whole family stayed in Nanjing, and his naval army was incorporated as a boat household, and he was subordinate to the guards. In fact, Fang Guozhen's military power has been relieved, and the naval army that he relied on to become famous has been disbanded. Fang Guozhen was also at ease in Nanjing, and escaped several major cases in the early years of Hongwu, and died of illness in the seventh year of Hongwu.

In the turbulent times in the last years of the Mengyuan Dynasty, Fang Guozhen maneuvered between the two major forces of the Yuan Army and Zhu Yuanzhang, and exchanged money and songs with the two sides in private, in order to reap the benefits of the fisherman. In fact, the commanders and strategists of both sides had already seen Fang Guozhen's purpose to be on guard against him. When it came to the decisive battle between Meng Yuan and Zhu Yuanzhang, Fang Guozhen wavered, and suddenly surrendered to Meng Yuan and Zhu Ming, which made both sides extremely annoyed with him. Some people even called him "Fang Fengxian" in private, which was to ridicule Fang Guozhen by the general Lu Bulu Fengxian, who was known as the "three-surnamed house slave" during the Three Kingdoms period, which meant that he was not trustworthy, only wanted immediate interests, and was a mother if he had milk. When the world was settled, he was forced to submit to Zhu Yuanzhang. Zhu Yuanzhang's evaluation of him is not good, and he once said to people: "Fang Guozhen, this kid, has violated my admonitions several times, and he didn't stop immediately and return to his fate, but instead flowed into the sea, and he was too much of a favor." Though he submitted to me, he was only desperate and begging. It's just that I am based on the righteousness of the world, and I don't do anything before. If this person becomes suspicious again, then Heaven will not spare him!"

At that time, Fang Guozhen had returned to the Ming Dynasty, and his family lived in Nanjing, under the absolute control of the imperial court. After hearing the emperor's evaluation of himself, Fang Guozhen was so frightened that he almost hanged himself. Since then, he has been cautious, for fear of doing something that the emperor does not like, which will make Zhu Yuanzhang angry, and he will inevitably suffer all over the house. Fortunately, although Zhu Yuanzhang was dissatisfied with him and sent people to monitor him closely, Fang Guozhen was careful everywhere, and there was nothing to do with the court, and Zhu Yuanzhang did not embarrass him. It's just that Fang Guozhen was worried and frightened every day, and his body had collapsed, and he died of illness in the seventh year of Hongwu.

When Li Qiufeng was on an errand in Jinyiwei, he had looked through Jinyiwei's secret files, including the files about Zhejiang Fang's family. It turned out that although Fang Guozhen returned to the Ming Dynasty, the imperial court had always been extremely wary of him. There is a passage recorded in the archives of Emperor Taizu, saying, "Fang Guozhen fish and salt are sold, and they steal their lives, and they are obedient to wait and see, and they are the first rats." I began to know the current affairs with your heroes, so I ordered you to be autocratic. Thou hast scheming, and if you want to covet me, you will send your servant, and if you want to be my official, you will call me old and sick. The Fang clan and its former officials, there are many people who are good at water warfare, and they must be strictly guarded against and must not be regarded as chaos." Jinyiwei was instructed by the emperor, and the surveillance of the Fang clan has never been relaxed, and several secret reports are sent to the hands of Jinyiwei's commander every year. Today, although it has been more than 100 years since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, Jinyiwei still closely monitors the Fang clan and understands the affairs of the clan very clearly.

Mrs. Sha mentioned that Li Qiufeng was on an errand in Jinyiwei, which naturally referred to the fact that Jinyiwei was closely monitored by the other clan. Li Qiufeng thought to himself: "It seems that the Fang family also knows that they are being monitored by the imperial court. Although this Mrs. Sha is a woman, she naturally knows a little about what happened to her family. Thinking of this, he could only smile and say to Mrs. Sha: "Madam, although I have worked as an errand in Jinyiwei, I am just a guard outside the Wuying Palace, and I am not in charge of detectives. In addition, when he was on an errand in Jinyiwei, he was just entrusted by others, and he always ignored any spying pursuits. Moreover, at the moment, Li is not only no longer Jinyiwei, but I am afraid that he is still the first felony to be arrested by Jinyiwei, and Mrs. Sha does not have to care about Li's identity. ”

(End of chapter)