Fujian Province, Fuzhou Changle Port.
The ship slowly docked, Chu Xing, Meng Wanli and others disembarked and went straight to the navy camp.
Wu Zhen, Marquis of Jinghai, was reviewing the nautical charts and studying coastal garrison matters in the office. He exchanged a few words with Ding Xian from time to time and listened to the sergeant's announcement that Chu Xing was coming and asked him to come in.
Chu Xing walked into the lobby and saluted solemnly: "Chu Xing has seen Marquis Jinghai and Governor Qianshi."
Wu Zhen smiled heartily, stepped forward and said, "Excuse me. When I saw you coming, I knew something had happened in Quanzhou Prefecture. Tell me, what did the men of Gu County do?"
The navy led by Chu Xing seems to be stationed in Quanzhou Port to prevent pirates from directly invading Jinjiang City. In fact, it is the helper left by Wu Zhen to Gu Zhengchen and a force to ensure Gu Zhengchen's safety.
Now that Chu Xing and Meng Wanli are here, it means that the main force of the Quanzhou Port Navy has withdrawn. The message behind it is: Gu Zhengchen has the ability to protect himself.
Wu Zhen is not just a rough guy who only knows how to kill, he has extraordinary wisdom.
Chu Xing admired Wu Zhen, otherwise he was the Marquis and he was a fellow guard commander. He smiled and said: "Gu County man has shown his authority and done shocking things. Quanzhou Guard Commander Zhou Yuan and Qian Hu The heads of Cai Ye and Cai Ye were chopped off at the order of County Man Gu, and their heads were hung in public!"
Ding Xian raised his brows, looked at Wu Zhen, and saw that he was not surprised at all, and asked: "Why is Marquis Jinghai not shocked? He is a senior official in the guard camp. Without a governor's office, official documents from the imperial court, or the emperor's decree, who would dare?" Kill them! What Gu Zhengchen did is really too much."
Wu Zhen said calmly and majestically: "I am shocked. I am also shocked why he only killed two people. If it were him, the Quanzhou Guards would have chopped off at least twenty heads. The disease is already deep. How can we survive in a short time without strong medicine?" It took effect within a short period of time. After all, he was too restrained and too soft-hearted."
Ding was speechless.
Killing two of them is not going to end well, but if you kill twenty more, why don't you just kill all the Quanzhou Guard generals?
Wu Zhen looked at Chu Xing: "With Zhou Yuan dead, the entire Quanzhou Guard can completely obey the orders of Huang Senpinggu County Man. It won't be a big problem for you to withdraw from Quanzhou Port. Have you met him before coming here?"
Chu Xing nodded, took out a letter from his arms, and handed it over: "I've seen it. He asked Marquis Jinghai for help with two things, and asked me to deliver this letter personally."
Wu Zhen took the letter, opened it and read it, his face gradually became serious, he put the letter in his arms and said to Chu Xing, "Do you know what's in the letter?"
Chu Xing shook his head: "I didn't know."
Wu Zhen nodded slightly and sat down: "What two things?"
Chu Xing said frankly: "The first thing is that Gu Xiannan wants to borrow at least nine Dafu ships, preferably twelve, and staff them with naval sergeants."
Ding Xian was a little confused and interjected: "He is the prefect, why does he want a warship?"
Wu Zhen lowered his head and pondered.
For a long time, Gu Zhengchen has been working towards opening up the sea. Borrowing a boat now is probably because I plan to take this first step.
Twelve large fortune ships, at least 800 sergeants.
This is no small gesture.
Thinking of what Gu Zhengchen wrote in his letter, it is obvious that he planned to go into business with arms, use the profits from commercial trade to convince the emperor, and then open the sea on a large scale to re-establish the maritime trade channel between the Ming Dynasty and Nanyang.
Wu Zhen raised his head and asked, "What about the second thing?"
Chu Xing looked around and hesitated.
Seeing this, Wu Zhen waved his hand and told everyone except Ding Xian to retreat.
Chu Xing then stepped forward and said in a low voice: "The man from Gu County said that Gao Huigao, who is involved in politics, is in Quanzhou Prefecture, and some things are difficult to handle. I hope Jinghaihou can find a way to temporarily transfer him back to Fuzhou."
Wu Zhen was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said: "Is he still afraid of Gao participating in politics?"
Ding Xian was astonished. Why wasn't he afraid of Gao Zheng? Gao Hui was in the provincial government office, and Gu Zhengchen was just the prefect, and his official position was much higher than that of Gu Zhengchen.
Chu Xing nodded and reminded: "Gao Huigao's participation in politics is mainly in Fuzhou on weekdays, and Gu Xiannan is in Jinjiang."
Wu Zhen understood.
Gu Zhengchen wanted to deal with Gao Hui, but he had no evidence of Gao Hui's crime.
Gao Hui is from the province. He lives and eats in Fuzhou on weekdays. He doesn't have much time to go out, so he has very few flaws to stay outside.
In the absence of clear evidence, Gu Zhengchen could not move Gao Hui even if he wanted to. Instead, he could easily be beaten down and falsely accused, which would not end well.
Therefore, it would indeed be a big trouble for Gu Zhengchen if Gao Hui stayed in Quanzhou Mansion.
Wu Zhen thought for a while and agreed: "This matter is easy to handle. Ding Xian, if the news spreads to the outside world, it will be said that I am dead."
"Ah, what?"
Ding Xian looked at the good-looking Wu Zhen, and his head felt a little weak.
Chu Xing took a deep breath. This move was too cruel to him...
However, this does allow Gao Hui to return to Fuzhou immediately.
After all, a prince of a country died in Fuzhou. As a provincial politician, he had to come over to give some gifts, shed a few tears, wipe his tears before going back to work.
However, once such news is proven to be false, it may not end well.
Wu Zhen saw Chu Xing's worry and said with a smile: "I am still alive, and the pirates and Japanese pirates dare not invade Fuzhou. Now I am spreading false news to attract the pirates and see if they can make them emerge from hiding." .Besides, I have been very tired these days and want to lie down in bed and sleep, but it was just arranged and spread by some good people..."
Chu Xing looked at the rather rogue Wu Zhen and nodded heavily.
Since you don't even care about your "life", I guess your face is of little use to you, so let's just die as soon as possible so that Gao Hui can come back as soon as possible.
After Wu Zhen sent Chu Xing and Meng Wanli away, he wrote another letter, summoned his guard Xuan Gan, and handed his letter over with Gu Zhengchen's letter: "Send this letter to the Governor's Office as soon as possible. Mu Ying, please tell your Majesty."
Xuan Gan hid the letter in his chest and turned to leave.
really.
When Fujian political advisors Chen Tai and Lu Zongyi received the news that Marquis Jinghai died of a sudden illness, they were both caught off guard.
Chen Tai didn't understand how Wu Zhen, a guy who could pull three kilograms of rice in one meal, suddenly died.
But when the disease comes, it’s really hard to tell.
Chang Yuchun, for example, died suddenly that year, too late to call for medical treatment.
Lu Zongyi lamented: "Jinghaihou is the backbone of coastal security. With him gone, the Fujian coast will not be peaceful."
How could Chen Tai not know the importance of Wu Zhen to coastal peace? With him around, at least the pirates and Japanese pirates would have to weigh their options and think clearly before deciding how far away from Fuzhou they should be.
Now that Marquis Jinghai is gone, can this sea still be peaceful?
"In any case, provincial officials should go to express their condolences. Where is Gao Shenzheng?"
Chen Tai was filled with regret.
Lu Zongyi thought for a while: "Gao Shenzheng should still be in Quanzhou Prefecture."
Chen Tai frowned: "Quanzhou Prefecture, how is Governor Gu doing now? Is there any news?"
Lu Zongyi shook his head and raised his hand to scratch his beard: "The last news about Magistrate Gu was sent by Gao Shenzheng. He said that he had received the seal of the Magistrate and included the impeachment document."
Chen Tai spread out a piece of paper and chose a brush from the pen holder: "Gu Zhengchen is really a little lawless in Quanzhou Mansion, and he even killed Tongjian Yang Baiju with a cane!"
Lu Zongyi glanced at Chen Tai and said slowly: "Officials live in government offices. This is the rule of the imperial court. There is nothing wrong with Gu Zhengchen's punishment of Yang Baiju according to this. What's more, Yang Baiju still occupies the house..."
Chen Tai moistened his ink, glanced at Lu Zongyi with his peripheral vision, and then retracted: "He has the power to punish people according to the law, but he does not have the power to beat people to death. He knew clearly that Yang Baiju could not withstand two cane punishments in a short period of time, but he still insisted on execution, and finally made trouble Life was taken. This was done intentionally, to replace the death penalty with a stick! If everyone was like him, many people would be beaten to death every year in the prefecture's yamen. At that time, how will the Ministry of Punishments review the case, and how will Your Majesty decide?"
Lu Zongyi did not continue to argue, and what Chen Tai said was not inappropriate. He beat the official to death. This really offended all officials. If you, Gu Zhengchen, climbed on top of everyone one day, you should be frightened and mention it all day long. Working with your head on your head?
But Lu Zongyi still heard a little about the affairs of Quanzhou Prefecture, but he focused on the four prefectures of Funing, Yanping, Jianning, and Fuzhou, and he didn't know much about Quanzhou Prefecture.
There was news that Quanzhou Prefecture was brutally abusing the people. I asked him several times, but Gao Hui just said that the tax was caused by the people's resistance to the imperial court's two taxes and corvee service.
If this is the case, it cannot be entirely blamed on the Quanzhou government office. If taxes cannot be collected, the officials will be in trouble. In order to avoid trouble, they can only bully the people. It is also the emperor's responsibility to hold him accountable. Why can't he be exempted from taxes for a year and a half to recuperate? Fujian is very mountainous and there is not much land.
Lu Zongyi sat down, thinking of the death of Jinghai Marquis, and sighed: "We still need to send people to hurry up and let Gao Hui come back. The Marquis died in Fuzhou, and we in Fuzhou politics cannot leave without condolences, and basic etiquette still needs to be done. arrive."
Chen Tai wrote a letter with his pen. After sealing it, he called the Yamen servant and ordered someone to send the letter to Gao Hui as soon as possible, and told him to "return immediately and not delay for a moment."
Death matters are important, but ritual matters are important.
Lu Zongyi saw that Chen Tai had made arrangements, and then said: "I have rarely interfered with Quanzhou Prefecture, but there are a lot of things going on there right now. Zhang Baiju was sentenced to death with a stick, and Tang Xian died in a cell. The incident was enough to shock the court. We If you handle it carelessly, you may be implicated.”
Chen Tai frowned slightly and looked at Lu Zongyi: "What do you mean?"
Lu Zongyi said seriously: "After seeing off Marquis Jinghai, I want to go to Quanzhou Mansion in person to see the real situation there, and by the way, investigate the cause of Tang Xian's death. I really feel sorry for this disease. It is impossible not to get sick sooner or later." It happened after he was imprisoned."
Chen Tai picked up a document, unfolded it and said, "Let's discuss this matter after Gao Shenzheng comes back. If you really want to go, no one can stop you. It's just that Jianning Mansion is not stable. A while ago, some people tried to A fight broke out over a piece of bamboo forest, injuring more than a dozen people. The local county government mishandled the situation, which aroused public outrage..."
