Located in Hirasaka Island in Kochi, Japan, it is the nest of the Zheng Zhilong Pirate Group.

After his main force was completely defeated by the Ming Navy, Zheng Zhilong finally escaped here, while the East China Sea Fleet was exhausted and the soldiers were exhausted, and could no longer provoke the battle with the Japanese pirates, so he had to return.

What's more, the Satsuma Phan, a Japanese local military armed force group that was allied with Zheng Zhilong, had also been ambushed in the waters near Hirasan Island.

However, for Zheng Zhilong, although he temporarily got a chance to breathe, he had no more than a few boats and many people at this time, and he still had to admit that he had completely failed.

At least in the days to come, he could no longer gather enough power to compete with the court, and he could not even suppress other maritime forces now.

Including these Japanese pirates who were originally living under his protection, they began to despise him at this time, and the Satsuma family even asked him to give up the Zheng family's property in Nanyang.

Moreover, the Japanese general of the expedition, Tokugawa Shogunate, Tokugawa Ieyasu, also hoped that Zheng Zhilong would lead his remnants to join the Japanese pirates, serve his own shogunate and serve him for his own power.

But for Zheng Zhilong, a pirate who originally didn't even take even the governor-level officials of the Ming Empire seriously, he could not accept that he could only become a retainer of a small country.

Therefore, Zheng Zhilong rejected Tokugawa Ieyasu's kindness.

But what he didn't expect was that Tokugawa Ieyasu was not as good-tempered as before. The islanders who had always bullied the weak and feared the strong were afraid of Zheng Zhilong before because Zheng Zhilong was almost the strongest maritime force in this area. But now Zheng Zhilong is a dog that is stranded. If he cannot use it for himself, as the actual ruler of Japan, Tokugawa Ieyasu, naturally wanted to bite another piece of meat from Zheng Zhilong.

So, the Tokugawa shogunate directly dispatched 30,000 troops to Hirasaka Island, using the excuse of naturally destroying the bandits and regaining the territory that was taken away by pirates. In addition, they also borrowed the name of the Ming Dynasty to completely eliminate the bandits who betrayed the Supreme Kingdom of the Celestial Empire.

Zheng Zhilong was naturally extremely angry after learning the news. Fortunately, the lean camel was bigger than a horse. At this time, Japan was no longer as numerous as the Wanli period. Even though Zheng Zhilong had no much force, he still repelled the 30,000 troops of the Tokugawa Shogunate.

However, Zheng Zhilong did not teach Tokugawa Ieyasu a good lesson.

Because Zheng Zhilong knew very well that his enemy was not these ignorant Japanese pirates, but the Ming Dynasty court, Zhu Youxiao!

What he needs most now is to find a peaceful harbor for rest and recuperation, and look forward to making a comeback in the future. As long as the court no longer sends troops to suppress the enemy, he believes that he can still rise again.

For this reason, Zheng Zhilong decided to surrender to Japan and become a powerful foreign vassal in Japan, so that he could also receive some funding from the Tokugawa shogunate in Japan and avoid unnecessary conflicts with other samurai groups.

Tokugawa Ieyasu ended up having to agree with Zheng Zhilong's decision. Although he could not force Zheng Zhilong to divide his fortune, it was only a merit worthy of history to allow this maritime power of the Supreme Kingdom of the Celestial Kingdom to surrender.

He even reported it to the Japanese Emperor for this, and asked for a lot of rewards for this.

In this way, Zheng Zhilong became a foreign vassal force in Japan.

...

Zhu Youxiao didn't know that Zheng Zhilong had surrendered to Japan and became the first traitor to surrender to Japan. Xiong Wencan's assassination made Zhu Youxiao deeply realize the strength and stubbornness of the forces behind the country opposing the sea.

Moreover, shortly after Xiong Wencan was assassinated, Zhu Youxiao received news from the Dongchang that a concubine, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, died of poisoning because she stole Shang and Zhou Zuo's almond soup. The people in the Dongchang specially followed the clues to this incident and successfully destroyed a gang for secretly killing officials of the imperial court.

Most of this gang were members of the Cao Gang who had survived on canal transportation in the canal area before. However, due to the opening of the Liangjing Avenue and the prosperity of sea transportation brought about by the establishment of the Ming Navy, the role of the Cao Gang transport began to decline. Many members of the Cao Gang became bandits, or became tools for some reactionary forces behind it.

After conducting strict interrogation of these gangs and conducting open and secret investigations through various methods, the Dongchang was the mastermind behind the series of secret assassinations. However, what Zhu Youxiao did not expect was not only involving some wealthy businessmen along the coast, but also involved the officials of the court, even honorary relatives and members of the royal family.

This made Zhu Youxiao, who learned the truth, extremely angry. In order to prevent the huge profits brought by maritime trade from being nationalized, these people did not hesitate to continuously assassinate coastal governors' officials to force no official to dare to be a pioneer in reform for the court and Zhu Youxiao.

In order to continue the reform of my country in the Ming Dynasty, and to give officials who are still willing to do practical things for me.

Zhu Youxiao did not choose to let go because of the strength and complexity of the forces behind them. Since these people dared to risk the ruthlessness of the world and even deliberately murdered the governor of two provinces, what are the consequences of doing so?

Li Jiantai, who was also the Imperial College Priest, was a popular candidate for the next cabinet Grand Secretary. Although Zhu Youchao had no good impression of this official who had no good performance in the Chongzhen Dynasty in his original history, he finally opposed the Qing Dynasty with Jiang Rang after surrendering to Jiannu, so Zhu Youchao did not do anything to him.

But what Zhu Youxiao did not expect was that in the case of murdering Xiong Wencan and Shang Zhou Zuo and other governors, it turned out to be the mastermind of this person.

Moreover, after obtaining detailed information from the Dongchang, Zhu Youxiao had to admit that the eradication of the eight major Shanxi merchants did not mean that the complete decline of Shanxi merchants in the Ming Dynasty. Some Shanxi merchants who operated domestic sales and maritime trade were not damaged much. On the contrary, after most of the Shanxi merchants who engaged in border trade were eliminated, they also achieved greater development and became a new Shanxi merchant force.

Li Jiantai's Li family is a representative here. It was beneficial for the court to eradicate the eight major Shanxi merchants, so he did not stand up to oppose it. However, when it comes to conflicts between family interests and court interests, he still chose to maintain the former because the king could be replaced with another loyalty, but once the family disappeared, he would not be able to survive in this society.

Zhu Youxiao never thought that Li Jiantai was now a high-ranking civil servant in Qingliu. After learning that Li Jiantai's family was involved in this matter, Zhu Youxiao directly issued an order to destroy the three tribes.

"I have already said that anyone who ignores the will of the court and the interests of the country because of his own selfishness will directly destroy the three clans and will be punished for the crime of harming the country!"
Chapter completed!