When Zhu Ping'an sent away the eunuch who announced the imperial edict and continued to inspect the construction of the anti-Japanese sentry tower with Liu Dadao and others, the Matsuura family, the daimyo of Hirado in Hizen Province in the northwest of Japan across the sea, welcomed a guest from the Ming Dynasty, or to be more precise, a hostage from the Ming Dynasty, a monk with an ordinary appearance and a gloomy face.
This monk hostage is Xu Hai. This Xu Hai is not that Xu Hai. He is not the Xu Hai, the doctor of the Ministry of Personnel who came to Jingnan more than ten days ago to investigate Zhu Ping'an's corruption case in collusion with grain merchants, but the Japanese pirate Xu Hai.
Xu Hai was not treated well by the Matsuura family. The Matsuura family did not treat him as a distinguished guest. The house he lived in was also the house of the Matsuura family's servants. The roof leaked, the windows leaked, and the meals were simple. He was not even allowed to eat the fish fillets that were a specialty of the island country. He also had no freedom. There were always two samurai from the Matsuura family watching him. This was normal, after all, he was just a hostage.
The reason why Xu Hai is now a hostage of the Matsuura family actually has to do with his assassination of the Pirate King, no, the King of Jinghai and the King of Hui—Wang Zhi.
The reasons why Xu Hai assassinated Wang Zhi were very complicated. First, they had different ideas. Wang Zhi had always had great expectations for the court. He wanted to recruit the Japanese to replace Japan's tribute position, trade with the Ming Dynasty, and monopolize the Ming Dynasty's overseas trade. In order to achieve his goal, he strictly restricted the pirate behavior of the Japanese pirates under his command for a while; while Xu Hai pursued a business without capital. No matter what kind of trade he did, he still needed costs and risks to do business. There was no pleasure in robbing. He didn't need capital, and he would make profits if he robbed back. When Wang Zhi was restraining the pirate behavior of the Japanese pirates under his command, Xu Hai often led the Japanese pirates to attack the coast, and was severely reprimanded by Wang Zhi. Second, he was dissatisfied with his treatment. Xu Hai was ambitious and believed that he had extraordinary abilities. He heard his mother say that on the night he was born, his mother dreamed of Sirius entering her arms. Xu Hai often thought to himself that Sirius was in his arms, so how could I be a mortal? ! But Wang Zhi did not give him a matching status. Wang Zhi's subordinates are the Seven Warlords of the Sea, no, they are mainly divided into seven major fleet captains. The representative fleet captains are Mao Haifeng and Xu Yuanliang from Zhejiang, Xu Weixue from Anhui, and Ye Zongman from Fujian. Xu Hai believes that his talents are not inferior to Mao Haifeng, Xu Yuanliang and others. In his opinion, Mao Haifeng is just relying on being Wang Zhi's adopted son, and Xu Yuanliang and others are short-sighted, so he has repeatedly volunteered to Wang Zhi, expressing his desire to be a fleet captain, but Wang Zhi has never agreed. Third, instigated. His uncle Xu Weixue secretly instigated Xu Hai to assassinate Wang Zhi many times. His uncle Xu Weixue was originally Wang Zhi's entrepreneurial partner. When the stall was small, the two sides cooperated happily, and there was no hierarchy. However, when the stall was big, Wang Zhi dominated the entrepreneurial group because of his ability far superior to Xu Weixue, and Xu Weixue became a fleet captain under Wang Zhi. Wang Zhi ate meat, and Xu Weixue could only drink soup. Why? We are all founders. Why do you eat meat while I drink soup? Why do you give me orders and I can only obey? Xu Weixue was unwilling to let Wang Zhi take over the profits and power. He always wanted to kill Wang Zhi and replace him. Therefore, Xu Weixue secretly instigated Xu Hai to assassinate Wang Zhi many times so that he could take over.
Of course, the ice is three feet thick and it didn't freeze overnight. There were many reasons why Xu Hai assassinated Wang Zhi, but the fuse was because of a woman - a legendary woman - Xu Hai's woman Wang Cuiqiao.
Wang Cuiqiao. Gender: Female. Occupation: She used to be engaged in the ancient flesh trade and was a famous courtesan in Jiangnan. Now she is the legal wife of Xu Hai, who was married to her in a sedan chair. Origin: The daughter of a northern official. Her father was an official. Later, his father was dismissed for a crime. The Wang family fell into decline, and Wang Cuiqiao fell into the dusty place by the Qinhuai River. Because she is beautiful, slim, has a tender voice, is well-educated, gentle and gentle, and has the heroic spirit of a northern woman, a strong character, and acts in a capable and straightforward manner. There is a huge contrast between her appearance and character, so she is famous by the Qinhuai River and was a famous courtesan by the Qinhuai River at that time. Once when she went to a dignitary's house to do business, she encountered Japanese pirates on the road and was captured alive by them. The Japanese pirates presented Wang Cuiqiao to their leader, Xu Hai. Xu Hai fell in love with Wang Cuiqiao at first sight, who was born in a famous family, had a noble temperament, was well-educated and had a rough life, and married her as his wife in a sedan chair carried by eight people. A famous and well-known courtesan and a rising star in the pirate world, the combination of the two was not short of traffic and became a good story in the pirate circle at that time.
However, Wang Cuiqiao's fame spread so far that it even reached the ears of Mao Haifeng, Wang Zhi and others.
In the 31st year of Jiajing, Wang Zhi's 50th birthday came. Wang Zhi's godson Mao Haifeng held a birthday party for his adoptive father in Ligang, Zhoushan. All the Japanese pirates attended the party. Mao Haifeng, under the influence of alcohol, "invited" Xu Hai's wife Wang Cuiqiao to sing and dance to liven up the party. The Japanese pirates cheered and Xu Hai had no choice but to agree. Wang Cuiqiao was worthy of being the most beautiful woman in Qinhuai. She sang and danced, stunning the birthday party and making all the Japanese pirates infatuated. Even Wang Zhi was moved by her and asked Wang Cuiqiao to pour wine for his birthday.
After the birthday banquet that day, rumors spread among the Japanese pirates that Wang Zhi intended to take Wang Cuiqiao as his concubine.
This is the hatred of having your wife taken away from you.
After hearing this, Xu Hai had no doubts and was filled with hatred. During the birthday banquet, Wang Zhi asked Wang Cuiqiao to pour wine, and Xu Hai had already secretly hated her. Now, when he heard that Wang Zhi wanted to take Wang Cuiqiao as a concubine, he felt even more hatred in his heart.
The hatred of having one's father killed and one's wife taken away, these are the hatreds that men cannot reconcile with.
So, after being instigated by his uncle Xu Weixue, Xu Hai took action to assassinate Wang Zhi.
However, Wang Zhi had survived on the edge of a knife until today, so how could he be easily assassinated? Wang Zhi discovered Xu Hai's assassination during the preparation stage, and caught him red-handed before the assassination even began.
After Xu Hai's assassination attempt failed, he was almost killed by Wang Zhi. After constant persuasion and pleading by his uncle Xu Weixue, Wang Zhi let Xu Hai go. Later, the news that Xu Weixue had instigated Xu Hai to assassinate Wang Zhi was leaked by someone unknown. Xu Weixue was worried about Wang Zhi's revenge, and he had long been dissatisfied with Wang Zhi's monopoly of profits and power, so he simply took Xu Hai and some of the Japanese pirates away, parted ways with Wang Zhi, and started to work alone.
However, although Xu Weixue had high aspirations, his abilities and luck were extremely poor.
After Xu Weixue pulled Xu Hai out to work on his own, he was ready to recruit people and horses, ready to do something big.
The first time, Xu Weixue chose Taizhou, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, ready to make a fortune.
burn one's boats!
The whole army attacks!
When a lion fights a rabbit, it uses all its strength!
Xu Weixue brought all his men on board and pierced three small boats in public to show his determination to fight to the death to the Japanese pirates under his command. The morale of the Japanese pirates under his command was boosted, and Xu Weixue was in high spirits.
But unfortunately, Xu Weixue's army encountered a typhoon halfway before reaching the coast of Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Yes, that's right, it was that typhoon, the typhoon that caused heavy rains in the south of the Yangtze River.
After a typhoon, Xu Weixue's high spirits were buried in the sea. Of the more than 800 pirate ships, only less than 30 were left, and almost all of the thousands of Japanese pirates under his command were also buried in the sea.