Damn it, I'm in the garbage book I wrote

Chapter 740 The Navy is indeed a headache.
Magistrate Yang was still lying on the ground when the door to the inner room was opened, at which point he raised his head again: "You petty scoundrels, it's not too late for you to surrender now!"

Xia Lin didn't respond to his words, but simply squatted down in front of him: "You're the local magistrate, right?"

"It is indeed I, the magistrate. You dare to be so presumptuous knowing I am the county magistrate. It seems you truly do not know the immensity of heaven and earth. I will spare your life for the time being because you are still young and do not know the seriousness of the matter. If you release me now, I will not impeach you for treason."

Who is your direct supervisor?

“This place is under the jurisdiction of Gyeonggi Province, which is naturally under the control of Commissioner Hong. If you disturb him, you will be doomed.”

"Alright, how many days will it take for Commander Hong to arrive?"

"I don't know..."

Xia Lin patted the magistrate's face: "Go, write him a letter and ask him to come over in person."

Although the magistrate didn't know what the man in front of him wanted, since they wanted to die, he would let them have their way. It was a joke that a band of a few hundred people dared to talk to the military governor.

"Since you insist on going your own way, don't blame me for not warning you. Don't let the governor scare you so much that you wet your pants."

After he was untied, he wrote a letter to the Hangzhou Military Governor's Office. The only difference was that Xia Lin and Emperor Jingtai each stamped their seals on the letter. The seals of the Grand General and the Imperial Seal appeared on the same piece of paper. The letter was delivered to Lin'an City, Hangzhou by fast horse that same day.

In less than three days, the messenger arrived at the governor's office, where Governor Hong was discussing the emperor's recent movements with the local governor.

"Sir, someone has delivered a letter from outside."

"Hand it over."

This Commander Hong was none other than the former garrison commander of Luoyang, Xia Lin's sworn brother when he was defending Luoyang. He had made a name for himself and was now a high-ranking official of the third rank.

It can be said that even in the capital, apart from the three prime ministers and the Grand Marshal, Grand Minister of Works, Grand Tutor, and Grand Preceptor above them, everyone who saw him would greet him politely.

He casually opened the letter, having heard that it was sent by the magistrate of a small county. He assumed it was just an ordinary greeting letter, since serious matters would be sent in the form of official documents.

But when he opened the letter and saw the two seals on it, Hong Jinglue, who had been standing and chatting, suddenly collapsed to his knees with a thud.

The sky is falling...

"Lord Hong...what is the reason for this?"

"The sky has fallen..." Hong Jinglue stood up shakily, and before he could even see his guests off, he shouted, "Prepare the horses! Quickly! Prepare the horses!!!"

Dozens of fast horses traveled day and night. What would take a professional scout two and a half days, he arrived in less than two days.

Sleeping?! Sleeping is for the dead. If he delays even a moment, have you heard of the Ministry of Justice's water dungeon? That would most likely be his final resting place.

When Hong Jinglue arrived at the edge of the town with a dark expression, he was stopped in the same way. He dismounted, registered, and then led his horse on foot.

When the veteran led him to the courtyard, he saw the county magistrate squatting in a corner chopping wood as soon as he entered. When Magistrate Yang saw Hong Jinglue arrive, he immediately threw down his axe, rushed forward, and grabbed Hong Jinglue's leg, wailing, "Lord Hong, you've finally come! Those thieves..."

"You thief!" Hong Jinglue slapped him across the face and grabbed Magistrate Yang by the collar: "Get here right now!"

The two arrived at the tightly closed door, and Hong Jinglue immediately knelt down: "Your Majesty, this sinful subject Hong Chengyu pays his respects! Long live the Emperor!"

"Who?"

Magistrate Yang didn't react for a moment, but then he saw that Commander Hong had already kowtowed to the ground. At that moment, his life flashed before his eyes, and then he collapsed there with a thud...

A short while later, the door opened. It was opened by a political commissar of the new army. From Hong Jinglue's angle, he could just see the profile of Emperor Jingtai. He was arguing with someone, with one leg on a stool and a pen tucked behind his ear, his face flushed red.

"If you had any brains at all, you wouldn't use this method. Naval warfare is different from land warfare. What's the point of flanking maneuvers? Do you think this is some kind of cavalry tactic? If you don't understand, then shut up!"

At this moment, another unfamiliar voice came from inside: "The so-called military strategy is ever-changing but the principle remains the same. If you use your method, you will still lose half of your men. My method is to use warships to force the enemy to land and disembark."

"You damned Northerner... I may not understand the navy, but do you think I don't understand the ocean?" Emperor Jingtai slammed his fist on the table and shouted, "Do you even know how big the ocean is?"

At this moment, Hong Jinglue dared not make a sound. He could only wait until the noise inside subsided a little before he spoke again: "Your Majesty, this sinful subject Hong Chengyu pays his respects. Long live the Emperor!"

Only then did Emperor Jingtai realize what was happening, and he turned to look at him, saying, "Get up."

Hong Jinglue said tremblingly, "This sinful subject dares not..." "You shouldn't dare." Emperor Jingtai turned his head and glanced at him: "A dignified military commissioner, you can't even handle the task of suppressing bandits. How long have the Japanese pirates been harassing us? Look at the state of the coastal people, and you still act as if nothing happened."

Was Hong Jinglue wronged? Well, you could say he was wronged, or you could say he wasn't. But if you say he wasn't wronged, he actually did everything he could. Otherwise, how could a county magistrate mobilize the entire army? It's because he delegated authority, allowing the magistrate to handle the crisis as quickly as possible.

However, it's not wrong to say he wasn't wronged; he did indeed delegate authority. But the problem is that their fighting strength is far too weak. It's not the first or second time that fifty or one hundred Japanese pirates have occupied a county town. It's not the first or second time that thirty or forty men could defeat two or three hundred of them and escape unscathed, even inflicting heavy losses on them.

If it weren't for their weakness, the people in the coastal areas wouldn't have turned pale at the mention of Japanese pirates. The key issue was that their intelligence system was also a complete mess, almost completely infiltrated, which even caused the military operations of the Ningbo camp to repeatedly fail.

This was all due to his dereliction of duty.

Xia Lin was not present because he wanted to avoid suspicion, but Emperor Jingtai was still able to handle the minor matter of reprimanding the military commissioner very well.

He cursed for a full half hour, and Hong Jinglue dared not respond. Especially since the county magistrate, who was still unconscious beside him, was also blamed on him, which made Hong Jinglue turn around and glance at that damned County Magistrate Yang...

What a tragedy... what a tragedy!

"I will personally oversee the bandit suppression this time. You just need to cooperate fully."

What could Hong Jinglue say? Could he possibly say, "Your Majesty is no good; you're an outsider and not suitable"? He's got a death wish, isn't he? His entire family might be wiped out...

"With Your Majesty's support, I believe everything will go smoothly."

"Shut up." Emperor Jingtai waved his hand dismissively. "Take your idiot subordinate and get out of here! Just looking at you makes me angry."

"Thank you for your great kindness, Your Majesty..."

Hong Jinglue grabbed Magistrate Yang by the hair and dragged him outside. When they got outside, he was surprised to find that Magistrate Yang had actually woken up. Hong Jinglue was no fool. He was a third-rank official who had risen all the way from Luoyang to Hangzhou. How could he not know that this bastard had actually been awake long ago when he was being scolded?

He was so enraged that he suddenly attacked and gave Magistrate Yang a severe beating. Forget about interests and principles; he was already showing great restraint by not chopping Magistrate Yang into mincemeat.

Magistrate Yang didn't dare to utter a sound even after being beaten. Thinking about his arrogant words from a few days ago, he was grateful to be alive and standing here. The cost-effectiveness of the beating was really too high.

"Who is the other person?"

"Who?"

"Who else is accompanying His Majesty?" Hong Jinglue led the bruised and swollen Magistrate Yang to a resting place, kicked him in frustration, and continued to question him: "The General's Seal and the Imperial Seal cannot be in the same person's hands. The appearance of both seals at the same time means that there is another person by His Majesty's side."

Magistrate Yang gestured and said, "That man was tall, with a face like that, and a pair of fox-like eyes that would make anyone's heart tremble at just one glance."

"Alright, alright." Hong Jinglue nodded gently. "Let me tell you who that is."

"I humbly request your guidance, Commander-in-Chief."

"Xia Lin Xia Daosheng".

At that moment, Magistrate Yang almost lost control of his bladder, his whole body went limp. He said that His Majesty was merciful and would not kill people easily, but that grandfather was no pushover. The whole world knew that he had slaughtered 70,000 noble families in Jinling in seven days, and his tyranny was unimaginable.

"Remember this: the only reason you're standing here safely is because of His Majesty. If it weren't for His Majesty, you would have been turned into dried human flesh and hung from the rafters long ago."

"Yes, yes, yes...Thanks to Your Majesty...Thanks to Your Majesty." Magistrate Yang, covered in cold sweat, nodded hurriedly: "Governor, what should we do now?"

"You just wait here! You go back to chopping wood and doing other chores! You're really something else... Ouch..."

At this moment, Commander Hong was truly at a loss for words. He was actually eager to see Xia Lin, but Xia Lin had already gone to the seaside to survey the terrain in order to avoid suspicion, and would not return for several days.

Standing beside him at this moment were the master craftsmen and several supervisors from the Ningbo Shipyard.

"Although Jiujiang Shipyard has accumulated a lot of technology, it has been focusing on maritime transport for many years. It will probably be difficult to turn it into a military shipyard immediately, Headmaster."

"Find a solution. I don't want to hear how difficult it is from you. Do you think I don't know how difficult it is? I need you to give me a solution." Xia Lin pointed to the sea area ahead: "If there are no suitable ships or warships in the short term, we will still have to engage in boarding operations. I can't afford that kind of loss. Do you understand what I mean? I don't have many veterans left. Every single one of them is a treasure. They are needed to accumulate combat experience to train apprentices in the future!"

"Understood, Headmaster... We'll go and think of a solution right away."

"Seven days! You need to come up with a solution within seven days! Otherwise, you're in big trouble."

(End of this chapter)