Cursed Mountains and Seas

Chapter 355 The Eighth Voyage to the Western Ocean: Wang Cheng Leads the Team, Imperial Envoy and Commander-in-Chief
It's not surprising that Xu Shaohu would have such an attitude.

The political landscape at the central level has been turbulent during this period.

Grand Secretary Yan Jiexi was implicated by his lawless "son" Yan Donglou/Han Qinyu, which led to the emperor confiscating his family property and stripping him of his official position, sending him back to his hometown.

The entire Yan Party group, which was originally united around him, was first taken away by Han Qinyu, along with a group of high-ranking members, and then purged by the White Scale Guard. The edifice has collapsed and the monkeys have scattered when the tree falls.

Among the high-ranking members of the Yan faction, only Hu Ruzhen, the governor of seven prefectures, who offered the emperor two kinds of five-temple sacred flowers and proved his loyalty with practical actions, was able to remain unscathed and stand firm in this political turmoil.

As for another member of the cabinet, Mr. Yuan Wei, he is bedridden due to illness and unable to perform his duties. The process of retiring from office has already begun.

This resulted in the Qingliu faction, which had been suspected by the emperor and suffered heavy losses, gaining a huge advantage.

His value and irreplaceability as Grand Secretary Xu naturally rose sharply, making him the only pillar of the Great Zhao Dynasty.

He successfully took over the baton from the young Grand Secretary Yan Donglou and shouldered the responsibility of governing the two capitals and the twenty-four provinces.

With Emperor Shaozhi nearing death and his only heir apparent being his student, he suddenly felt much more confident.

With a group of upright gentry standing behind them, how could they possibly allow anyone to challenge the ancestral rule of "sea ban"?
"We, the gentry of Qingliu, are the main force in maritime trade. These overseas Chinese merchants who have emigrated and are no longer under our control are competitors who are trying to take food from Qingliu's mouth."

The more people die, the better!

He wasn't afraid of others seeing that he had ulterior motives.

Since most of the senior officials present nodded in agreement, they clearly shared the same opinion.

"What Grand Secretary Xu said is absolutely right. We must not wage war for the sake of the lowly people."

This attitude of treating overseas Chinese as abandoned people and ignoring them is actually the mainstream view at the center of this era.

The ministers each offered their opinions, which could be summarized into three points:
"The country's strategic focus is inward, and agriculture is the foundation. There is no need or motivation for overseas expansion, and there is no benefit in attacking the Frankish people."
The imperial court was heavily reliant on the silver trade, and a rash counterattack would damage economic relations with the wealthy Francois. From the perspective of "The Influence of Sea Power on the World," this was a pure trade surplus.
Finally, everyone knows the true strength of the coastal garrisons. When fighting Japanese pirates, they mostly defended on land. How could they have the ability to cross the ocean to fight the pirates?
Once defeated, even the last vestige of their tiger skin will be torn away.

Xu Shaohu concluded by saying:
"In my humble opinion, Your Majesty should issue an edict to Governor-General Franco, instructing them to investigate the matter themselves and severely punish the murderer."

This time, the Minister of War, Zhang Ao, who advocated for military action, did not step forward again.

Two young men emerged from the side hall, one after the other, and retorted to him:

"Grand Secretary Xu, you are mistaken!"

The person half a step behind was Lu Yunchen, who wore a python robe and had a sickly pale complexion.

Clearly, in this imperial era centered on the emperor, no merit was greater than directly saving the emperor's life; the saying "the greatest merit is no fault but saving the emperor" perfectly illustrates this point.

This is not only a "merit," but also a "favor," a "private favor" that the emperor must repay in the most solemn way.

In addition, the Lu family has a special status. Since the grandfather's generation, they have been Shaozhi's most trusted "own people".

Lu Yunchen's act of saving the emperor was naturally regarded by Emperor Shaozhi as a model of "hereditary loyalty" and a continuation of the Lu family's loyalty to him personally!
By generously rewarding the Lu family, he was affirming his own innermost circle of confidants, proving that he still had trustworthy people around him and that his rule remained stable.

As a result, Lu Yunchen was swiftly promoted the day after the battle.

He is now a top-tier loyalist and the commander of the White Scale Guard.

Moreover, unlike his grandfather Lu Wenfu, who was posthumously granted the title of Earl of Zhongcheng, his title was a hereditary one that lasted with the nation, thus firmly binding the Earl of Zhongcheng title to the Lu family.

In addition, he was granted the privilege of wearing a python robe and a jade belt, and was allowed to ride a horse in the palace. His widowed mother, who had been widowed for many years, was also granted the title of Lady of the Imperial Decree.

The usual rewards, such as gold, silver, silk, fields, and gardens, were even more astonishing in quantity.

Even Emperor Shaozhi, upon hearing of Han Shushu's existence, felt that since she also shared the surname Han, he intended to have a certain prince of the imperial clan adopt her as his goddaughter and bestow upon her the title of princess, thus bringing about a happy event.

Anyway, Lu Yunchen's lineage is destined to die out, and his fate is more troublesome than his physical condition. Even the elixir of immortality cannot save him. This can be considered as Emperor Shaozhi's compensation to him.

Logically, the prevailing faction of "pure" should have stood up to oppose this at this time.

However, whenever they thought of how cruel and bloodthirsty the Taizu Emperor was in his later years and nearing death, they couldn't help but worry that it would trigger the Shaozhi Emperor's final madness before his death.

No one dared to be the first to speak out, and in the end, the Lu family truly became the most sought-after noble family in the dynasty.

Lu Yunchen, relying solely on the title of "Loyal Earl," which implies unparalleled loyalty, is qualified to express his opinions on national affairs, and his power is now completely different from what it used to be.

After paying homage to the emperor, he delivered a passionate speech to his ministers:

"Grand Secretary Xu, and all the ministers."

Under heaven, all land belongs to the king; on the shores of the land, all people are subjects of the king. Your Majesty is the sovereign and father, and those maritime merchants are also Your Majesty's subjects. In the vast buffer zone between the coast and the forbidden mountains and seas, if it weren't for these water gatherers who used their flesh and blood to resist evil spirits, how could you and I enjoy peace and prosperity?
When the Franks kill, they don't consider the victims to be outcasts.

I have worked in Yuegang and had contact with quite a few Franco merchants.

They generally believed that overseas Chinese, like themselves, were colonizers of Southeast Asia and accomplices of the imperial court, who could at any time work with the imperial army to drive them back into the sea.

Therefore, in their eyes, they were killing the scouts and vanguard of the Great Zhao!
The Franks are declaring war on our Great Zhao and challenging Your Majesty's suzerainty over the vassal states of Southeast Asia.

It even challenges the tributary system of the sixty-four vassal states and the "Twenty-Four Solar Terms," ​​shaking the very foundations of the Mountain and Sea Curses.

After saying this, he bowed deeply to the emperor.

"Your Majesty, please judge!"

There was a sudden silence in the field.

Lu Yunchen escalated the massacre from a matter of tens of thousands of ordinary overseas Chinese to a matter of national dignity and the face of Emperor Shaozhi, and the nature of the massacre changed instantly.

During the reign of Emperor Shaozhi, nothing was more important than the face of Emperor Shaozhi!

Moreover, anyone with even a slight understanding of those arrogant Francois would know that while Lu Yunchen's words were somewhat exaggerated, the Francois' attitude was indeed true.

Their ambitions are undisguised.

Behind Lu Yunchen was Prince Yu, Han Zaiji, the only son of Emperor Shaozhi, who had automatically become the crown prince. Seeing the atmosphere becoming tense, he respectfully suggested:

"Father, why don't we summon the commander of Zhenhai Guard to the palace and hear what he has to say?"

Although Emperor Shaozhi had never met Wang Fugui, he had a very deep impression of him.

From killing the bandit leader Mao Haifeng in the East Sea Kingdom, to protecting Meizhou City and killing the basket snake tail, to planting high-yield crops, and unintentionally killing many five-colored rat demons to help him out of trouble.

Finally, when Guangze Wang betrayed him a few days ago, he also played a part in it.

Lu Yunchen did not claim credit for the work, but instead told Emperor Shaozhi that it was Wang Fugui who, while investigating the "Guishan Academy," inadvertently discovered that the "Dragon's Blood" who absorbed dragon energy and controlled the Minzhou officialdom was Han Wugui.

His father, Han Qinyu, was also a suspect, which is why he secretly planted a gunpowder barrel, allowing Lu Yunchen to save the emperor's life at a critical moment.

Emperor Shaozhi was looking for an opportunity to reward Wang Fugui, so he nodded and said:
"allow."

Using the authority of the "Lord of the State," he issued a talisman, summoning Wang Fugui's spirit to leave his body and instantly descend before the emperor.

Wang Cheng had already received a message from Lao Lu and was too lazy to argue with that Grand Secretary Xu and other conservatives about whether he, as a maritime merchant, was a lowly or treacherous person.

He bowed to Emperor Shaozhi and shattered his psychological defenses with just one sentence:

"Your Majesty, my mentor is from the Mountain and Sea Society and is a third-rank official [Director of the Imperial Secretariat]. He just received a message from his informant in the South Seas."

The first crack appeared in the Great Wall of Curses, forming a secret realm in Southeast Asia, which was occupied and studied by the Franks.

An alchemical potion called "Red Elixir" has been invented, possessing the same miraculous effect of prolonging life as the immortal elixir, the Five Organs Returning to Truth Pill!

"What did you say?!"

The Emperor Shaozhi, behind the gauze curtain, suddenly began to breathe heavily.

He had only just begun consuming external elixirs when he found it difficult to resist the desire that was ingrained in his very being.

Unfortunately, the Consepson, carrying the "heart's desire," vanished without a trace in the harbor, leaving even the most skilled alchemist with no ingredients to cook.

He was originally furious, vowing to tear the person to pieces and grind their bones to dust if he found out who had stolen his elixir of immortality.

Unexpectedly, just a few days later, I received another piece of great news from Wang Cheng.

Gone was the interest in manipulating power and balancing the court; Qiankun declared unilaterally:

"Commander of Zhenhai Guard, Wang Fugui, hear my decree!"

I hereby appoint you as Imperial Envoy and Commander-in-Chief, with the same authority as the former Grand Eunuch Zheng He. You are to mobilize the generals of the naval forces and the ghost soldiers of the temple army, and to draw warships from the twenty-four coastal guards to form a naval force.

I hereby grant you the right to expand overseas, and you may act as you see fit. Establish new Pacification Commissions and government factories, and you must secure the miraculous medicines of Southeast Asia for me!

In addition, 500,000 taels of silver were allocated from the imperial treasury for military supplies.

(End of this chapter)