Chapter 123: Part-time job accident

The next day, Li Weizheng came to the Jinyiwei Yamen to handle the dismissal procedures. Zhu Yuanzhang's order had been delivered, and Li Weizheng was officially transferred to Weihaiwei. His position as the Qianjia of Jinyiwei was replaced by the deputy Qianjia Feitingan, and Luo Guangcai was still the deputy Qianjia, but the other deputy Qianjia was promoted by Chen Ying, a hundred households. This was Zhu Yuanzhang's choice. Needless to say, Li Weizheng also understood the mystery.

The news that Li Weizheng was transferred to the Jinyiwei stations early in the morning. Some of the Jinyiwei were happy about Li Weizheng's departure, and some regretted it. Those who were happy were jealous of his reused use by the emperor. Now that he left, he would lose a strong competitor in the future. The regret was that when Li Weizheng left, the Jinyiwei lost a pillar, which could be said to be a major loss for the Jinyiwei.

But for the ministers in the court, he was very happy. The emperor finally demoted Li Poppi to the border guards, and he only regretted that the emperor did not give him a cup of poisoned wine to the West. Although Li Wei had only been in the Jinyiwei for only a year and he had only been a thousand households for half a year, he was already notorious. All the ministers in the court were afraid of him. Now he has finally left, and some ministers even wished to buy two firecrackers to celebrate in front of the Meridian Gate.

Jiang Yan was both happy and regretful about Li Weizheng's transfer. Li Weizheng was the only one among all the thousands of households who were not under his control. During the six months he was a thousand households, the emperor had always bypassed him and gave orders to him personally. This made Jiang Yan very unhappy, but he had to admit that it was because of Li Weizheng's existence that he understood many of the emperor's true intentions, which were incomparable to other thousands of households. As soon as Li Weizheng left, he seemed to close a window.

Jiang Yan read Li Weizheng's transfer order over and over again. This was sent by the Ministry of War, and the formal official text format. As long as he signed the letter of departure, Li Weizheng's imperial elegance and health career will be officially completed.

Jiang Yan sighed, picked up his pen and signed the two documents. At this time, a report from a personal soldier came from outside the door, "Sir, Li Weizheng is asking for a meeting."

"Let him in."

After a moment, Li Wei was walking in. He still knelt down on one knee and bowed to Jiang Yan and said, "Li Wei was in charge of the commander."

Seeing that he did not treat him lightly because of his resignation, Jiang Yan couldn't help but sigh and stepped forward and helped him up, "The official documents of the Ministry of War have been issued. I should call you Commander Li. From the position, you are on the same level as me, so there is no need to kneel down to me anymore. Lord Li, please get up!"

He asked Li Weizheng to sit down and asked someone to pour another cup of hot tea, and then said to him: "Although you have changed from the Jinyiwei to the commander of the Weihaiwei, almost everyone thinks you have been demoted and thinks that the Jinyiwei has a huge power, and the commander only cares about one territory, and the Weihaiwei is far away from the capital, but I think this is the emperor's value you."

He handed the Ministry of War to Li Weizheng and smiled: "You can tell if you look at this order."

Li Wei was receiving the transfer order from the Ministry of War, and he was also a little stunned. The content on it seemed to be slightly different from what the emperor said to him yesterday. "Li Wei was promoted to commander of Weihai Guard." This is the same. The key is the next sentence, "and also serve as the Thousand Houses of the Penglai Defence Center."

Li Weizheng couldn't understand the meaning of the latter sentence for a moment.

"You understand! If the emperor demoted you, he would be able to be the commander of Weihai Guard, but he would also hand over the Penglai Defence Station to you. This means that the emperor has a profound intention to appoint you as the commander of Weihai Guard."

After all, Li Wei has only been an official in the court for more than a year and does not understand many situations. He pondered for a while and asked: "Can Lord Jiang tell me what it means to be a Thousand Houses of Penglai Defence Center?"

"This is something worthy of fun. All of us heard the only news that you were promoted to commander of Weihai Guard, but the official transfer order added a one-time member of the Penglai Defence Center, which was really unexpected!"

Speaking of this, Jiang Yan stood up and closed the door. He lowered his voice and said to Li Wei: "Penglai Water City was built in the ninth year of Hongwu. It is actually the outer city of Dengzhou Prefecture. There are 3,000 naval troops stationed here, which are independently the Thousand Houses of Penglai. Don't underestimate these 3,000 naval troops. They have two hundred most powerful warships in the Ming Dynasty, but they have few soldiers and many ships, and they cannot exert their power. But if you add your Weihai Guard, it will be different. You have eight thousand naval troops under your command, plus the 200 warships in Penglai. The emperor actually handed over the most elite naval troops of the Ming Dynasty to you in disguise. If I guessed correctly, I am afraid that the emperor wants you to fight against Japanese pirates."

Li Wei was a little distracted, but he thought of another thing. Zhu Yuanzhang seemed to have agreed to support the Southern Dynasties of Japan. Could it be that it is related to this matter?

Li Weizheng then went to three military camps to say goodbye to his old subordinates such as Luo Guangcai, and officially resigned from the position of Qianhu, the Jinyiwei. In the afternoon, Li Weizheng had lunch and went to the East Palace to thank the prince.

"Fifth brother, please follow me." Yang Ning led Li Weizheng into the inner palace, and he also received the news that Li Weizheng was about to be transferred from the capital. He was full of sympathy, but he could do nothing.

When he walked to the door of the prince's study, he turned to Li Wei and said, "Fifth Brother, the prince ordered you to go in directly." Then he sighed again, "Oh! Fifth Brother, I am very sad about your affairs."

Li Wei was smiling and patting his shoulder, afraid of him, and said, "Zi Fei, how can you know the joy of fish? You are thinking too much."

As he said that, he walked into the study room. In the study room, Prince Zhu Biao was reviewing the memorials. Li Wei was stepping forward and kneeling down and bowing, "Li Wei was meeting His Highness the Crown Prince!"

Zhu Biao was writing quickly, and quickly waved his hand and smiled, "Sit down first and wait until I finish reviewing this book."

Li Wei was getting up and sitting down. When he saw Zhu Biao's complexion was quite good, he seemed to have gained a little weight than when he first met him last year, and his face was rosy. Li Wei Zheng couldn't help but have some doubts in his heart. Zhu Biao should have passed away in the past two years, but there was no sign of his appearance before him.

At this time, Zhu Biao finished the memorial, put down his pen and smiled: "How is it, the appointment is a bit unexpected!"

Just as Li Wei knew what he was referring to, he nodded and said, "I really didn't expect that the emperor would have appointed me to serve as the Qianhu of Penglai. I am really puzzled by this."

"Not to mention this matter, even the Minister of the dynasty may not know the emperor's deep meaning. Last month, the emperor secretly ordered the Penglai Navy to transport fifty ships of stock and military supplies to Goryeo, and then the Goryeo King Li Yao reselled it to the Japanese Southern Dynasties, hoping to scrape a batch of silver from the Japanese Southern Dynasties to supplement the finances. Unexpectedly, the Japanese Danasty family and Japanese pirates were attacked by the Japanese Danasty family and Japanese pirates in the middle, losing nearly ten ships of supplies. The fleet returned in vain and now moored in Goryeo. The emperor was furious in the palace and killed the Qianhu, the Penglai family who was ineffective."

When Zhu Biao said this, he stood up and came to a curtain, and opened the curtain. On the wall was a map of the Ming Dynasty. The map was simply painted with the vassal state of Goryeo, Zhu Biao picked up a long stick and pointed to a port in the southeast corner of Goryeo and said: "Currently, the ship is anchored in Busan Port. Since the emperor appointed you as the commander of Penglai Qianhu and Weihaiwei, I can think that he was going to let you escort these forty large ships to the Southern Dynasties of Japan. This is one of them. The second is that the Japanese pirates repeatedly attacked the coast of our Ming Dynasty, but we passively defended and the Japanese were in quelled. This time you wiped out a group of Japanese pirates in the Lingdingyang, which greatly encouraged the emperor. I guess the other intention of the emperor is to let you fight the Japanese pirates."

Li Weizheng's heart gradually became warmer. How desirable it was to command the Ming fleet across the sea. He was a little confused, as if he saw the situation when he led the Ming fleet to dock in Goryeo and Japan.

"what's on your mind?"

When Li Wei saw Zhu Biao looking at him, he quickly said modestly: "I don't understand naval battles very much, and I feel very nervous."

Zhu Biao walked over and patted his shoulder and smiled and said, "No one is born to fight, just practice more. In Dingyuan County, I knew you have talent in this area."

Speaking of this, Zhu Biao's face gradually became serious. He stared at Li Weizheng's eyes and said, "You should also know that what I lack most is the generals who lead the army. When I ascend the throne, a group of veterans such as Lan Yu, Feng Sheng, and Fu Youde have already retired. The younger generation will stand out. The second generation of meritorious officials such as Xu Huizu, Chang Sheng, and Li Jinglong can certainly rely on it, but you are my confidant. I hope you will become my right-hand man one day and help me to defeat the vassal state."

Li Wei was just hearing that Zhu Biao had admitted in front of him that the vassal was reduced. This was actually a great trust. He nodded silently and remembered the prince's words.

Zhu Biao asked him to sit down again, took out a letter from the drawer and said with a smile: "Remember this letter! This is the letter from the King of Qi that you got in Yangluo Town, Huangzhou Prefecture. It is meaningless now. Please return this letter to the King of Qi for me!"

As he said that, he handed the letter to Li Weizheng. Li Weizheng understood the prince's meaning. An official in Shandong would inevitably deal with King Zhu Jing of Qi. Zhu Biao asked him to return the letter to the King of Qi, just to ease the Liangzi who had settled the case of the King of Qi in the letter. Zhu Biao thought about him everywhere, which was a good intention.

Li Wei was moved in his heart. He knelt down and kowtowed respectfully, and said extremely sincerely: "Your Highness's kindness of knowing and meeting is engraved in my heart, and I dare not forget it for a moment."

After leaving the Eastern Palace, Li Weizheng went to the Ministry of War to handle the inauguration procedures. According to the approval from the Ministry of War, he will go to Weihaiwei to take office by March next year at the latest. During this period, he had nothing to do. After more than two months of long holiday, Li Weizheng's mind turned to the family and was preparing to welcome the birth of the child.

Time flies quickly, and it is New Year's Eve in a blink of an eye. This day is the busiest day for every household. In the past half month of preparation, the most sumptuous banquet of the year will be held tonight. Li Weizheng's father, Mr. Li, arrived in the capital three days ago to reunite with his family. In addition, Gu Ying's parents, Li Weizheng's uncle and aunt, also came to the capital from Suzhou, and were preparing to officially move the Gu family's main store to the capital after the New Year.

The family is crowded with people, and the courtyard is particularly lively. Early in the morning, Li Weizheng was driven out of the house by Ye Zitong and Qianqian and asked him to go out for tea and wait for lunch to go home for dinner. Li Weizheng was relaxed and took Shisanlang to a famous teahouse nearby.

The weather has been sunny these days, and the temperature has begun to rise. The snow on the roofs on the street has almost melted away. Only in the shade can you see a pile of dirty and black snow. The small grocery shops on the street are crowded with children coming to buy things. They are wearing new clothes and shoes, and carrying New Year's money from their parents in their pockets, looking for various toys and food that have been jealous for a year. Finally, the remaining copper coins bought a few strings of firecrackers and scattered.

The teahouse is crowded with guests coming to drink tea. Today is a busy day for women, and men go out shopping, and most of them gather in the teahouse to chat and brag. Li Weizheng has been idle for more than ten days and has to come to this teahouse for a while almost every morning. He is also a veteran of the teahouse. He is generous, so the guy will leave him a good seat on the second floor with the railing every day.

Li Wei was on the second floor, and a teenager welcomed him enthusiastically, "Mr. Li is here, please invite him to the seat quickly."

The young man pulled open the chair and wiped the table again and said with a smile: "Today is the zaju "Liu Qiaoer's New Year" and "Mu Guiying's Commander". Tomorrow, the first day of the Lunar New Year, the store will be closed for one day. The day after tomorrow, my store specially invited the famous Meijia Zaju Garden in Zhenjiang Prefecture to perform "The West Chamber". There are 60% off for a total of 10% off. It will be performed for six consecutive days. Mr. Li must not miss this good opportunity."

"I understand. First, give me a pot of good tea, and then a plate with a finer detail, preferably the Gu family's finer details." Li Wei was taking out a treasure note of two cents of money and threw it to him and smiled: "This is the reward for you. As it is New Year's Eve today, it is the New Year's money I gave you."

The young man took the money and thanked him all the time. He hurried to make tea and prepare snacks. The teahouse where Li Wei was drinking tea has two floors, and there was a small stage at the front of the first floor. In the early Ming Dynasty, zaju was still prosperous. Although Zhu Yuanzhang strictly restricted the personal freedom of ordinary people, he was relatively tolerant in his thoughts and did not control the people's thoughts like the middle and late Ming Dynasty. He allowed many scripts that reflect the sufferings of the people and historical stories. Therefore, the content of zaju is mostly real and close to life, and is deeply loved by the people. The teahouse is the best performance venue. Almost every teahouse has a special performance venue, and the teahouse also attracts a large number of guests every day.

Li Weizheng's second floor is opposite the stage, which is the best location for the entire teahouse. The teahouse is a place for ordinary people to entertain. Generally, dignitaries and nobles will not come here. Therefore, most of the wealthy families sitting on the side of the second floor are rich families, and the room fee alone costs ten taels of silver per month.

He has to come to the teahouse every morning for more than ten days. In fact, just to watch dramas, watching zaju has become one of his hobbies.

At this time, the actors were preparing nervously in the backstage. A storyteller on the small stage was talking about "The Founding of the Ming Dynasty", telling Zhu Yuanzhang's great achievements. The tea lovers obviously had no interest in these tired stories. They all gathered together to chat with their own voices, and they couldn't hear clearly. He suddenly felt that Shisanlang was touching him behind him and pointed to the opposite side.

Only then did Li Weizheng realize that the tea friend opposite was not Han Dongzhu, who watched the show with him every day, but a middle-aged man with dark skin, with two followers behind him. Although the middle-aged man was wearing Ming Dynasty costumes, his two followers were weird in costumes, and each had a hat with colorful pheasant feathers on his head. It was obviously not from the Ming Dynasty.

The middle-aged man owed Li Weizheng and smiled, "I have a question below to ask sir."

He had a bad accent, and he was indeed not from the Ming Dynasty. Li Weizheng nodded slightly and said, "If you have anything, just ask."

"I want to ask what this West Chamber is about, and it will be staged on the first day after the New Year."

At this time, the guy brought the tea and the thin spots. Li Wei was picking up the tea cup and taking a sip of tea to moisten his throat. Then he smiled and said, "The West Chamber tells the story of men and women's love. A down-and-out scholar fell in love with the daughter of a wealthy family. Although the story is average, the song is very nice and has high requirements for actors. Therefore, the second day of the Lunar New Year will be performed by the Meijia Zaju Garden in Zhenjiang Prefecture. If you have time, you might as well listen."

"It's the second day of the Lunar New Year!" the middle-aged man said to himself, frowned, "What should I do if the Emperor of Ming Dynasty wants to meet us on the second day of the Lunar New Year?"

After thinking about it, he smiled at Li Weizheng and said, "That's right, I'm the envoy of Ryukyu Kingdom. This is my first time to come to the Central Plains. My king also likes the zaju in the Central Plains, so he asked me to bring some zaju artists back. But I asked a lot of your Ming Dynasty officials, but they all smiled but didn't answer. I don't know what they mean?"

Hearing this person asks this, Li Weizheng also wanted to laugh and refuse to answer. He did not distinguish between the occasion and the location, regardless of whether he was Zhang San, a pig slaughtering or Li Si, a drug sold, revealed the king's private preferences. No matter how small the country is, there are few people in the Ryukyu Kingdom, he should not send such envoys.

Li Weizheng smiled and replied: "Training the Ming people to the sea privately is a violation of the laws of our Ming Dynasty. No matter who it is, of course, I dare not agree to you. If you want to accomplish this, you must obtain the special permission of our Ming Emperor."

"So that's it!" The middle-aged man stood up and bowed deeply to Li Weizheng, "Thank you for your reminder, I'm so grateful."

Li Wei waved his hand and smiled, "You're welcome."

He picked up the teacup and pondered for a while and asked, "You said you were the envoy of the Ryukyu Kingdom just now, but I have something to ask about it."

"Sir, please ask."

"I heard that there is a large island with a radius of hundreds of miles south of Ryukyu Kingdom. I wonder if there are people on it now?"

The envoy of the Ryukyu Kingdom smiled, "You are talking about Xiaoliuqiu Island! It was originally under the jurisdiction of the Penghu Inspection Department. After the Ming Dynasty banned the sea, the Penghu Inspection Department was also laid off. All Penghu residents were moved to Fujian. I heard that many Penghu fishermen refused to move inward and fled to the island. Now, except for some natives, there are some fleeing Han fishermen on the island, and there are a few Japanese pirates and pirates who have taken root there."

Li Wei was frowning, and of course he asked about Taiwan Island. When he was looking at the Ming map in Guangdong, he found that Taiwan Island was not among them, only Penghu Island. In other words, Zhu Yuanzhang did not consciously place Taiwan Island into the Ming territory. Especially after the implementation of the sea ban, Taiwan Island even cut off contact with the court. However, Japanese pirates were rampant and they could not turn a blind eye to Taiwan Island. From the Ryukyu envoy, he learned that Taiwan Island had become the base for Japanese pirates to invade China, so Japanese pirates could invade Guangdong. Japan is still in the Southern and Northern Dynasties. Once Japan ends in the Southern and Southern Dynasties, it is difficult to guarantee that the ambitious Ashikaga Yoshiman would not be attracted to Taiwan.

Zhu Yuanzhang may not know the importance of sea power, and the ministers of the Ming Dynasty may not realize it either, but Li Weizheng knew that he was arrogant and did not think about danger in times of peace. The internal texture of the Ming Dynasty gradually became corrupt in the middle and late Ming Dynasty. If a catharsis outlet could be found to let the pus in the texture flow out, the Ming Dynasty would not have died in the hands of the barbaric and backward Jianzhou Manchu people, and this catharsis outlet would be overseas expansion...

Thinking of this, Li Weizheng asked without saying a word: "Does my Ming navy never go to the near Taiwan Island to intercept fleeing fishermen?"

"The Ming Navy has always defended against Japanese pirates, and I have never heard of anyone taking the initiative." The envoy of the Ryukyu Kingdom suddenly found that he had lost his words. He quickly covered up with a cough and ignored Li Weizheng.
Chapter completed!