Brocade tears

Meng Kuang has a certain understanding of Wang Zhi, but it is limited to his general experience and cause of death, and she does not understand many details.In the inn, she heard the fourth master Zhang Dongwei and Guo Dayou give a detailed introduction.Out of the requirements of their positions and their own interests, these two people have done in-depth research on Japanese pirates and the Japanese country, and when they talk about these things, they are very precious.

Wang Zhi, a native of the Ming Dynasty, also known as Wufeng, the owner of Wufeng, was born in Tuolin, Xiong Village, Shexian County, Huizhou.His original surname may be Wang, his first name is Zong, and his nickname is "Zhi".It is often called "Wang Zhi" by the people of Japan and the people, but he falsely used his mother's surname "Wang" and called himself "Wang Zhi" when he illegally traded at sea, so the government often called him that.This person is very famous both in the Wa Kingdom and in the Ming Dynasty, because he played a key role in the incident of the introduction of fire/guns to the Wa Kingdom.

Wang Zhi grew up in a poor family, and in order to survive, he did not hesitate to take the risk of violating the sea ban.In the 19th year of Jiajing, he went to Guangdong for overseas trade with Xu Weixue from his hometown, Ye Zongman, Xie He, and Fang Tingzhu from Zhangzhou, Fujian.He bought prohibited goods such as yellow nitrate, silk cotton, and traded them in Japan, Siam, and Western countries. In the same year, he arrived at Fukue Island in the Goto Islands of the Wa Kingdom, and was welcomed by the daimyo Uku Moridada.At that time, the name of the Wudao Islands was "Shika Island". He saw five peaks in the sea, so he named himself "Wufeng". The Japanese were also influenced by him and changed the name of Zhika Island to Wudao.

In the 21st year of Jiajing, Wang Zhi was recommended by Uku Moridada, and accepted the invitation of Matsuura Takanobu, the daimyo of the Japanese Warring States Period, to engage in maritime trade based on Hirado Island belonging to the Hizen Kingdom off the coast of Kyushu and Matsuuratsu in the Hizen Kingdom.Matsuura built a house for him, and he lived here for a long time.

Three years later, Wang Zhi's ship carried three Frankie sea merchants to Shuangyu Island for trade, but encountered wind and waves and deviated from the course, and arrived at Tanegashima in Wa Kingdom.Wang Zhi called himself "Five Peaks of Confucianism" and held written talks with local warriors as an interpreter.Tanegashima Shiyao, the son of a local daimyo in Tanegashima, was very interested in the matchlock guns held by the Frankies. He bought them and asked his craftsmen to imitate them. This is the origin of the Japanese Iron Cannon.

Since then, since the smuggler Jin Zilao started smuggling trade in the area of ​​Shuangyu Port off the coast of Ningbo, Shuangyu Port has gradually become the largest smuggling trading port in Ming Dynasty, North Korea and Japan. Among them, the most powerful and the four brothers who hold the right to speak are Fujian businessman Li Guangtou and Huizhou businessman Xu Dong.Wang Zhi joined the Xu Dong Group in his hometown as the shopkeeper, lured Frankie, traveled to and from Zhejiang Sea, and moored at Shuangyu Port to conduct private trade.

In the 27th year of Jiajing, the smugglers and pirates in Shuangyu Port were wiped out by the army led by Governor Zhu Wan of the Ming Dynasty.After Li Guangtou and others were captured and killed in Fujian, Xu Dong fled to Guangdong and never returned to the coast of Zhejiang.Wang Zhi established himself as the owner of the ship, and based on Maji Mountain on Jintang Island, gathered the remnants of maritime merchants and pirates.

In the 30th year of Jiajing, Wang Zhi cooperated with the government and the army to eliminate the pirates Lu Qi and Shen Jiu, and annexed the Fujian pirate leader Chen Sipan who was active in Zhejiang.

In the 31st year of Jiajing, Wang Zhi moved to Chaolie Port. With the acquiescence of the deputy envoy of Zhejiang Haidao, Wang Zhi got a period of trade freedom. Trying to rebuild the prosperity of Shuangyu Port in Ligang, Zhoushan.Wang Zhi's subordinates were divided into several large fleets, the representative captains of which were Mao Haifeng and Xu Yuanliang from Zhejiang, Xu Weixue from Huizhou, and Ye Zongman from Fujian.Wang Zhi's subordinates can even openly trade with the common people on the streets of Suzhou, Hangzhou and other places, and the common people rush to send their children to Wang Zhi's fleet.

At the very beginning, Wang Zhi had always had great expectations for the imperial court. Under the suggestion of local officials acquiescing to the "private market", he took the initiative to cooperate with the government and worked very hard to put down Chen Sipan and other pirates who burned, killed and looted, and maintained The coastal order has gradually established its "maritime supremacy" status, and it is trying to rebuild the prosperity of Shuangyu Port in Ligang, Zhoushan.However, Xiao Xian, Deng Wenjun, Lin Bichuan, Shen Men from Fujian, He Yaba from Guangdong, and some of Wang Zhi's subordinates, such as Xu Hai, led the Japanese pirates to attack the interior.In May of that year, Wang Zhi was invited by Ming Haidao's deputy envoy Li Wenjin, and together with the Ming army, Zhang Siwei defeated a group of Japanese pirates, captured two Japanese pirate ships, and then led the people to preside over the opening of the market in Dinghai.In July, because Wang Zhi was unable to destroy the pirates and restrain his subordinates, Wang Zhi was considered to be the mastermind and planner of these "invasion" incidents.

As a result, the Ming court broke its promise, and in the middle of March in the 32nd year of Jiajing, the governor Wang Yan sent the general Yu Dayou to lead the army to attack Ligang to encircle and wipe out Wang Zhi.Wang Zhi was defeated and fled to the country of Wa.The successive destruction of Shuangyu Port and Li Port caused serious damage to Zhejiang's maritime trade network.Since then, there has been no place for peaceful maritime merchants along the coast of Zhejiang.

The ultimate goal of Wang Zhi's activities along the coast is to "blackmail the government and open up the city."The meaning of these eight characters is very clear, requiring the government to abandon the outdated maritime ban policy and legalize maritime trade.After Wang Zhi left the coast of Daming, he called himself King Hui.

In April of the 33rd year of Jiajing, Hu Zongxian was appointed as the censor of inspection and supervision in Zhejiang. He was appointed as the censor of Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of War and the censor of Zuoqian Capital of the Metropolitan Procuratorate. .In order to recruit Wang Zhi, Hu Zongxian first released Wang Zhi's mother, wife and children from prison, and provided them well. Later, Jiang Zhou and Chen Keyuan sent Jiang Zhou and Chen Keyuan to Japan to negotiate with Wang Zhi's adopted son Wang Fu. Affection.When he learned that his relatives were safe, he couldn't help weeping with joy, and always complained: "I didn't do anything to cause chaos, but because General Yu plotted against me and arrested my family members, he made his way back." He couldn't resist the promise of trading and trading. .Wang Zhi expressed his willingness to obey orders.Wang Zhi left Jiang Zhou in Japan. To show his sincerity, he ordered Mao Haifeng to escort Chen Keyuan back to China to meet Hu Zongxian, and discussed in detail how to recruit and trade with him.Hu Zongxian caressed Mao Haifeng generously, which dispelled Wang Zhi's doubts.

In the 36th year of Jiajing, Jiang Zhou, with the help of Wang Zhi, reached an agreement with Yamaguchi of Waguo and the rulers of Bungo, Yuanyichang, and Yuanyizhen.Hu Zongxian reported this matter to the imperial court, and got support, and the imperial decree ordered Hu Zongxian to send his envoy generously so that he could return it.In October, Wang Zhi finally led some troops and a trading fleet to Zhejiang, while the Japanese side sent envoys Shan Miao and others, together with Jiang Zhou, set off from Wudao, took Wang Zhi's fleet to Tonggong Mutual Market, and finally arrived at Cen Port, Zhejiang.However, a typhoon encountered on the way, and Jiang Zhou's ship arrived first, which was suspected by the authorities, so Jiang Zhou was arrested.

Wang Zhi, who arrived later, waited for the fleet to come to a standstill in Zhoushan after learning the news, and was surrounded by the navy of the Ming army. Under Hu Zongxian's consolation, Wang Zhi came to Dingguan in person and surrendered to him.

Hu Zongxian comforted Wang until Hangzhou and inspected Wang Bengu. On February 37, Jiajing 66, he was trapped by Wang Bengu while visiting the West Lake in Hangzhou. After publishing "Zi Ming Shu", he first explained: "The thief Wang Zhimi benefited from the sea, sold goods in Zhejiang and Fu, shared benefits with others, defended the border for the country, and never seduced party thieves to intrude. It is well known to everyone. He has repeatedly made minor contributions, but he has been deceived and cannot be promoted, and he has no family property. The minister is really unwilling." Then he reported the situation of the Japanese state to the court: "Although Japan is unified by one monarch, the ruler has been weak recently. There are still [-] countries in the country, and they are strong with each other." Finally, he pleaded with the emperor: "If the emperor is merciful and merciful, pardoning the sins of the officials will be like dogs and horses running around with little work. Zhejiang Dinghai Minister Tu and other ports are still like the case of Guangzhong, customs clearance and tax payment, so that the tribute period will not be lost."

Wang Zhi strongly suggested that Guangdong's practice of allowing the opening of treaty ports and setting up customs to collect tariffs should be extended to the coastal areas of Zhejiang, and the tribute trade relationship with Japan should be restored.In this way, the so-called "Japanese plague" in the southeast coast can be solved.After enumerating his achievements in suppressing thieves, he still prayed to the emperor to open the sea ban, and promised to "follow the dogs and horses with little labor", and was willing to calm the sea for the court.

During this period, the Ming court ordered Mao Haifeng and Dayou's tribute fleet to attack Zhoushan. Mao Haifeng defended the mountain, and the Ming army failed to attack it repeatedly.Mao Haifeng and the Dayou fleet took the opportunity to break through the siege and sail away.Since then, Mao Haifeng and others led Wang Zhi's old troops to invade the coast of Fujian many times.

On December 38th, the 25th year of Jiajing, Wang Zhi was beheaded at Fuguan Lane, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. Before his execution, he saw his son for the last time. The father and son cried while hugging each other. Wang Zhi gave his son a golden hairpin and sighed: " I don't want to punish the land!" Stretching his neck to receive the blade, he would not scratch it until he died.

After Wang Zhi was executed, the problem of Japanese pirates became serious again because the dragons had no leader.According to rumors in the court: Hu Zongxian promised that Wang Zhiyi would not die, but afterward he talked violently, so he dared not insist on asking.If Wang Zhi is allowed to control the sea cheaply, the teachers of Cen Gang and Ke Mei will have no experience, and Fujian, Guangxi, and Jiangbei will not be able to fight hard.However, all this came to naught. Wang Zhi said before his death that "I will die alone, and the people of Zhejiang and Zhejiang will suffer."It was not until the last years of Jiajing and the early years of Longqing that Qi Jiguang and Yu Dayou succeeded, and it took a lot of effort to basically settle down.Since then, Longqing has opened up coastal trade and lifted the sea ban, and the Japanese invasion has finally been calmed down to this day.

A lot of upside-down right and wrong, to get to the bottom of it, is just a helpless move of ordinary people in the market, who have no choice but to take risks and travel to and from the sea.It is difficult to distinguish between the people and the bandits, but under the desperate situation of being forced to go to Liangshan, even if you have no rebellious heart, you will be forced to become a bandit due to various shady framing.Fake bandits turned into real bandits, so that bandits from foreign countries were attracted, and they ran wild on their own territory, as if they were in no man's land.Maritime bans, if there are bans, they will be broken, and if they are banned repeatedly, they will eventually become a serious disaster.Since Dayu, there has been the ancient wisdom that blocking is worse than dredging. After paying a heavy price, the imperial court finally opened the sea ban and adopted the method of dredging.

At this moment, Meng Kuang seemed to be able to feel the hatred and powerlessness of the Wang family.They just want to make a living. Maybe Wang Zhi did evil, but he has achieved real peace and stability for the people on the southeast coast of Zhejiang, Min, and Guangxi. The people call him "Jinghai King". It actually has a pretty good reputation.Wang Zhi died, and died under the dark disputes between the government and the government. His death was the result of Wang Bengu and other people who were full of darkness stumbling the political opponents; It is a shield sacrificed; it is also a taboo for the emperor and the imperial court to kill a generation of maritime overlords who would not allow others to sleep soundly on the side of the couch.

He died too unjustly, and died extremely unwillingly.The tree fell and the monkeys scattered, Wang Zhi's adopted sons and the pirate leaders under his command were all dead and scattered, as if they had been forgotten in the dust of history.His son Wang Xin has been dormant for dozens of years without any movement, but he did not expect to raise a grandson with deep thoughts——Wang Ming.Wang Ming changed his name and became Wang Daoming, the governor of Nanya, and waited for an opportunity to take revenge.Wang Daoming's purpose is not just to take revenge on concrete figures such as Wang Bengu and Hu Zongxian. These people have long since died, and he has already lost the target of revenge.What Wang Daoming has to do is to let the Ming court experience another bigger Japanese riot, to remind the Ming court of Wang Zhi who was unjustly killed, and to make the emperor and the court regret it and swallow the bitter fruit.

He can even make a profit from it in order to make a comeback.

However, he only considered his personal enmity, but never considered what the people who suffered from the Japanese invasion should do.How innocent the people are, they have to bear the heavy price of his revenge.The Japanese plague may cause losses to the imperial court, but it will definitely make the people's lives miserable.In any case, Wang Daoming is doing evil. No matter how big his reasons are, Meng Kuang will never forgive him. Not only did he kill his father and brother, force the Meng family to separate, but he will also attract huge wars. disaster.

Killing Wang Daoming was no longer just Meng Kuang's personal revenge, but a must-do to prevent the Japanese plague from getting worse.