"You're not injured, are you?" Han Du asked with a smile, pointing to his face.
Hua Zhong shook his head, wiped it on his face, saw the red marks on his palm, and replied with a smile: "No, these are all other people's."
Seeing that nothing was wrong in Huazhong, Han Du felt relieved and looked at the corpses of Japanese pirates scattered around. Sometimes human life is really too fragile. Thousands of human lives are gone in just a short while, like mowing grass. But when he thought of the many evil things these Japanese pirates had done to the Ming Dynasty in the past, Han Du felt no sympathy at all.
After clearing the battlefield, Han Du ordered someone to erect a stone monument here. Firstly, it is to record this matter, and secondly, it is to leave a voucher for the future.
Although Anping is the nominal territory of Annan, since it was occupied by Japanese pirates, Annan State did not even dare to let go of anything, and just let the Japanese pirates do whatever they want here. Now that I have eliminated the Japanese pirates, Anping should naturally belong to the Ming Dynasty.
After all, a monk can touch it, why can't a poor Taoist touch it?
The Japanese pirates were able to occupy this place, why couldn't the Ming Dynasty?
Facing the sea breeze, the fleet passed through Qiongzhou and Fujian and returned to the capital.
After receiving the news that Han Du had returned to Beijing, Lao Zhu allowed Han Du to enter the palace overnight.
"My lord Handu, my lord Huazhong, pay homage to the emperor, long live my emperor~"
In Jinshen Hall, Han Du and Hua Zhong paid homage to Lao Zhu together.
Lao Zhu looked solemn, sat on a chair and asked in a deep voice: "Did you gain anything from this trip?"
Han Du and Huazhong had already discussed it, and Han Du would report to the emperor.
"Back to the Emperor, I will pass through Annam, Champa, Shuizhenla, and arrive at the old port, and then I will find traces of those people in Java..."
When Lao Zhu heard Han Du say that he had found traces of those people, his eyes clearly showed resentment and desire. He hoped that Han Du could vent his anger for him.
When he heard that those people had escaped, Lao Zhu couldn't help but feel disappointed with Han Du. Fortunately, Han Du caught dozens of people and the anger on Lao Zhu's face was relieved.
"Since you caught the traces of these people, why didn't you continue to pursue them and catch them all, instead of just catching a few dozen people and coming back?"
Han Du sensed the unkindness in Lao Zhu's tone, and did not dare to delay at all. He quickly said: "Your Majesty, those people have fled to the continent. I have no power to pursue them with my men."
"Continent? Which continent are you talking about?" Lao Zhu asked doubtfully, and then seemed to think of something, and quickly ordered: "Come here, bring the map of all nations."
Several young eunuchs came over carrying a huge screen. On the screen was the complete map of all nations that Lao Zhu ordered to re-draw.
Lao Zhu looked at the location of the Nanyang Islands for a moment, reached out and clicked on Australia, and asked: "You mean, they escaped here?"
"Exactly."
When Lao Zhu heard this, he sighed and said dissatisfiedly: "Isn't this just letting the tiger return to the mountain?"
"I am also worried about this," Han Du quickly explained: "I have left manpower in Java and Old Port to monitor the continent, and I have asked the Marquis of Shunshuo in Luzon to help block their northward route in order to prevent them from going north. Completely trapped on the continent."
Lao Zhu looked and nodded. Blocking these three places could indeed prevent those people from escaping. But then he shook his head and said: "This is not a long-term solution. It is best to completely eliminate them to relieve the hatred in my heart."
"Your Majesty, this continent is too big. Looking for people on the continent is like looking for a needle in a haystack. The manpower and material resources required are too much to launch a war, and the gains outweigh the losses." Han Du deliberately advised Lao Zhu.
The Ming Dynasty had just recovered from the drought, and Han Du really didn't want Lao Zhu to waste so much manpower and material resources again. The key is that apart from avenging the emperor's grandson and Li Wenzhong, there is no benefit in doing so.
Lao Zhu was silent for a while and then said: "I want to think about this matter carefully."
The stone in Han Du's heart has not completely fallen. Listening to Lao Zhu's meaning, he still has not completely given up his idea.
"How many are there?" Lao Zhu asked.
"They have nineteen lucky boats, and it is estimated that there should be thousands of people, including men, women, old and young. Perhaps the emperor can torture the specific situation from the mouths of those captured by the minister." Han Du thought for a moment and said.
Lao Zhu listened and nodded, "Leave the person to Mao Xiang."
Han Du's heart moved when he heard this, but without any hesitation, he replied: "Yes."
"In addition to catching these people, you should have gained something while going to sea this time, right?" Han Du made a lot of money the last time he went to sea. This time he ran further than last time. Lao Zhu estimated that Han Du would not miss the opportunity to make a fortune because of his character of being a thief.
Han Du wisely took out a memorial from his arms and raised his hands flat. "This time I went to sea and got 1.39 million taels of gold and 17.92 million taels of silver. In addition, I got a nine-foot thick nine There are nine agarwood stalks ten feet long, and hundreds of thousands of kilograms of other spices.”
These spices were all exchanged for the merchant ship cargo Han Du obtained along the way, and they were also considered a gain.
Lao Zhu signaled the old eunuch to take Han Du's memorial, and hurriedly opened it after taking it into his hand. Although Han Du did not get much more gold and silver this time than last time, the other spices were also a huge profit, plus various Nanyang rare treasures. All in all, the harvest from this trip to sea was actually more than five times that of the last time.
When Lao Zhu saw so much property, his anger at Han Du for not being able to catch all those people disappeared in an instant.
Seeing that Lao Zhu's expression improved, Han Du gritted his teeth and told what happened in Java, "The king of Java is disrespectful and I made the decision without authorization. Please punish me."
Lao Zhu's expression suddenly changed when he heard this, and he asked in a deep voice: "What's going on?"
Handu hid the Javanese king and told him everything that he had sent troops to surround and kill him.
Lao Zhu's expression changed several times and said: "Java has always been active in paying tribute to the Ming Dynasty. I thought they were very respectful, but I didn't expect them to harbor such evil intentions. You did the right thing in this matter. If it were me on the spot, I would also want to kill you." As for your recommendation of Yu Dushu as the new King of Java, let me wait until I have seen it."
"Thank you, Your Majesty." Han Du secretly breathed a sigh of relief and withdrew at Lao Zhu's signal.
After leaving the palace, Han Du walked on the street, and suddenly felt like returning home. In the Earl's Mansion now, in addition to his father, mother, sister and brother, there might be someone waiting for him.
Thinking of this, Han Du couldn't help but speed up his pace a lot, and he wanted to fly back immediately.
