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Part One: Storm in Penghu Chapter 108: Sea Trouble (Part 2)

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    This group of pirates suffered casualties along the way as they were pursued and suppressed by the official army.

    When they arrived in Chun'an County, Yanzhou, there were only about sixty people left.  Due to the pursuit, he traveled over mountains and ridges during the day and night, and entered She County to kill Jiangsu.

    The government urgently mobilized Jiangsu soldiers to guard it.  In Jingde, Dianshi Cai Yao led more than a thousand local militiamen to meet the enemy, but the pirates broke through the blockade again, looted outside the south gate and fled.  Later in Jing County, they defeated Qiu Shiyong, the magistrate who led his troops to encircle and suppress the army.

    On July 13, these dozens of pirates arrived in Nanling County. The defenders and civilians fled. The pirates easily captured the county seat and burned, killed and looted the city again. At this time, Jianyang commanded Liao Yin and Dangtu County Cheng.  Guo Gengjiao, Wuhu County Prime Minister Chen Yiyi, and Taiping Prefecture Governor Guo Zhang respectively led troops to reinforce and encountered the pirates outside the east gate of the county.

    The two sides are fighting head-on.  Liao Yin and others drew their bows and fired. The pirates were short of arrows, so they took the arrows from the army and reflected them. Just like this, dozens of pirates were killed and all the soldiers were defeated.  Chen Yiyi led his troops to advance alone, fought hard but failed, and was eventually killed.

    After leaving Nanling, the pirates fled to Wuhu again. However, they were resisted by local civilians and had to retreat eastward, passing through Taiping Mansion and entering Jiangning Town.  Zhu Xiang was ordered to lead hundreds of warriors to guard.  The pirates took advantage of their unpreparedness and launched a sneak attack.

    Zhu Xiang and others were unaware of the enemy's situation and were hijacked while they were drinking and carousing.  Zhu Xiang fought hard, but was shot several times and fell to his death. More than 300 officers and soldiers died, all of which were annihilated by dozens of pirates.

    The pirates fought all the way to the gate of Nanjing and passed outside Ande Gate with great force. For a while, people in the city were panicked, but no one dared to go out of the city to meet them.

    The whole city of Nanjing was in uproar, and both the army and the people were shocked.  There were only about fifty Japanese pirates.  At that time, the number of Ming troops defending Nanjing was 120,000.  Zhang Shiche, the minister of war in the capital, and Chen Zhu, the minister of affairs, did not dare to send troops behind closed doors.  Instead, the citizens were ordered to prepare their own food and equipment and go to the city to guard the city.

    The pirates who demonstrated under Nanjing City plundered Liyang and Xuanxing along the way. After hearing that officers and soldiers appeared in Taihu Lake, they crossed Wujin and Wuxi, and ran more than 180 miles day and night to reach Jishuguan.

    At this time, the remnants of the Japanese pirates who had been besieging Hangzhou were not far from here, and the rendezvous was imminent.

    It was only at this time that Nanjing responded.  Cao Bangfu, the governor of Nanzhi, personally urged Wang Chonggu, the deputy envoy, to gather troops from various ministries to guard the key roads and encircle and suppress them on all sides.  The thrifty Dong Bangzheng and General Lou Yu led their troops to finally capture the enemy in Taozhai Town.  The two armies fought together and captured the enemy's head at level 19.  The pirates had just reached the end of their rope. When they wanted to escape to Taihu Lake, they were intercepted by officers and soldiers. They were caught up at Yanglin Bridge and all were annihilated.

    In this way, the most amazing pirate team of a hundred people in history went on a rampage, killing and wounding 4,000 officials and civilians. Officials were killed in battle, including one censor, one county magistrate, two commanders, and two generals. After more than eighty days,  Finally its legendary journey came to an end.

    Ding Yunyi said this and asked: "Your Majesty, do you think these Japanese pirates are Japanese or people of the Ming Dynasty?"

    "Japanese pirates, of course they are Japanese." Chongzhen said in confusion.

    Ding Yunyi smiled: "I think this is not entirely true. Judging from his experience in fighting, he is familiar with the people's conditions and geography, is good at concealment, can capture the weaknesses and psychology of the officers and soldiers, and is good at flexible guerrilla warfare. He is a foreigner who cannot understand the language and is not accustomed to the local environment.  The others are all wearing yellow clothes and red caps. This is not the attire of Fusang people, so I think these so-called 'Japanese pirates' should be my subjects of the Ming Dynasty."

    "What?" Chongzhen, Wang Chengen, Wu Zhi and others were surprised when they heard this: "Since I, a citizen of the Ming Dynasty, why do I still pretend to be a Japanese pirate?"

    Ding Yunyi sighed: "Because the sea ban made it impossible for these coastal people to survive, they had to become pirates. And in order to fear that they would harm their families, they could only pretend to be Japanese pirates."

    Chongzhen¡¯s brows were tightly knitted.

    Wang Chengen also said on the side: "Your Majesty, in the first year of Longqing, our Ming Dynasty established Haicheng County in Yuegang. In the same year, Tu Zemin, the censor of the governor of Fujian, proposed to lift the ban and allow private sea trade, but refused to trade with Japan, and finally got approval.  From then on, Haicheng's Yuegang was the only legal port for overseas trade, and Jiangnan has always been the most prosperous place, and there were few large-scale rebellions.  Businessmen turned into bandits"

    "If the city is open, the bandits will turn into merchants; if the city is banned, the merchants will turn into bandits." Chongzhen murmured these two sentences.

    Ding Yunyi struck while the iron was hot: "The Japanese pirate rebellion gradually subsided under the pursuit and interception of famous generals such as Qi Jiguang and Yu Datao. At the same time, at the initiative of some officials, our Ming Dynasty began to relax the sea ban. This wise measure made it difficult to suppress long-term military operations.  The situation quickly stabilized, which even surprised some officials, and they realized more clearly that the strengthening of coastal defense forces and the relaxation of maritime bans were the starting point for "transforming municipalities into merchants."There are two necessary conditions for fundamentally solving the Japanese invasion problem. The two should not conflict with each other, but are complementary to each other.  Our Ming Dynasty¡¯s strong coastal defense force is the guarantee for ensuring its own security and developing foreign trade, and smooth foreign trade will become an important driving force for our Ming Dynasty¡¯s economic development¡±

    Having said this, Ding Yunyi took a deep breath: "Therefore, banning the sea is not feasible. Only by opening up the sea can we ensure the unobstructed flow of our Ming Dynasty's sea territory, make the people return to the court, and make pirates extinct."

    "Okay, well said!" Chongzhen raised his voice: "Ding Yunyi, you said it well. Only by opening up shipping can we ensure the unobstructed flow of the Ming Dynasty's sea, make the people return to the court, and eliminate pirates. I am very happy today,  I heard something today that I couldn¡¯t hear in the past. The governor of Fujian, Zou Weilian, originally submitted a letter to restore the sea ban, but now it seems that I made the decision rashly without careful investigation. "

    Wang Chengen and Wu Zhi were shocked. Your Majesty was admitting his mistake.

    Chongzhen paid no attention to this, and finally put down the tea bowl in his hand: "It seems that to solve the problem of sea disasters, the word 'forbidden' cannot be suppressed. For example, when Dayu controlled floods, he had to change 'forbidden' to 'shu'. This  Only then can we ensure that our Ming Dynasty will defend the sea!¡±

    "Your Majesty is wise!" This time it was Ding Yunyi who said the word "wise" sincerely.

    Chongzhen was very interested: "So sitting in the palace all day long, reading those memorials is of no use. I heard from King Ding of Tang Dynasty before that you were so outstanding, but I didn't quite believe it, so I wanted to see you.  Your thought once, I saw it right this time, I saw it right, you are very knowledgeable, very knowledgeable."

    Ding Yunyi stood up and said respectfully: "I am ashamed of myself."

    "You deserve it, you deserve it, of course you deserve it!" Chongzhen's voice suddenly became eager.
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