Of course, Zhu Ping'an also made a suggestion in the end, suggesting strengthening the construction of city defenses along the southeastern coast. It is recommended to build a city for county towns that do not have a city wall; it is recommended to repair the city walls of earthen walls with bricks and stones to strengthen defense and prevent the Japanese invasion before it happens.
Zhu Ping'an is a graduate student of Chinese language and literature, and has hundreds of years of experience. When drafting the secret memorial, he slightly processed his experience as the governor of Jingnan on the basis of facts, making the secret memorial both documentary and readable, especially his image is full and vivid, upright and wise, patriotic and loving the people, brave and fearless, capable of both literature and martial arts... ...
After Zhu Ping'an finished writing the secret memorial, he read it himself and couldn't help but give himself a thumbs up in his heart.
Ahem, bragging is a bit shameless huh?!
There is no other way. Living in this era, if Zhu Ping'an wants to make a difference, he must have a position.
For the sake of position, Zhu Ping'an had no choice but to do so.
Shameless?! Haha, what is face?! What is its value?! Can I eat it?!
Also, this is not bragging, this is called marketing. In this era, if you want to have a position, you must learn to market yourself and increase your own value. When your value is high, your position will naturally rise.
Zhu Ping'an would occasionally smuggle such private marketing into his secret memorials to Emperor Jiajing.
Like the wind sneaking into the night, moistening everything silently... ...slowly building and deepening her image in the mind of Emperor Jiajing.
In life, we must work hard but also look up at the sky.
After checking that everything was correct, Zhu Ping'an put the thick stack of secret memorials into the secret memorial box, locked it, kept the key close to his body, and handed the secret memorials to Liu Mu, asking him to carry them close to his body. He also took two yamen runners with him, each riding two horses, and went straight to the capital to present them to the emperor without passing through any post stations.
While Zhu Ping'an was using work-for-relief and building large-scale projects in Jingnan, Wang Zhi had also been building large-scale projects in Zhoushan Ligang, which was more than 500 miles away from Jingnan. He was carrying out all-round infrastructure construction in Ligang, building ports, fortresses, houses, trading markets, etc. He even built three churches especially for the Portuguese. The infrastructure construction in Zhoushan Ligang was brightly lit from day to night, as if a new port city was being built.
"I want to build Ligang into the second Shuangyu Port and create a prosperous era of maritime trade..." Wang Zhi stood on a huge ship with the "Prince of Hui" flag flying, pointed at the brightly lit Ligang, and said to the people around him with confidence.
At this moment, Wang Zhi was wearing a scarlet robe, jade belt, shaved head, Japanese ornaments, and a five-eaved yellow umbrella with a gold top. Behind him were fifty personal guards in gold armor and silver helmets. They all had Ming swords hanging from their waists. The scabbards were made of shark skin and decorated with gems, sparkling brightly.
The huge ship under Wang Zhi's feet was so huge that it could accommodate more than 2,000 Japanese pirates. Horses could gallop on the deck, and it floated on the sea like a mobile camp.
All of them demonstrate the great power of Wang Zhi, the overlord of the sea.
Next to Wang Zhi, a man wearing a big hat and brocade clothes but with his bare arms deliberately exposed, with a wild sword on his waist, stood with a smile on his face, and complimented Wang Zhi: "With your foster father's planning, we will surely succeed. All the oceans in the world will be your territory."
This man was Wang Zhi’s adopted son and also the captain of the largest fleet under Wang Zhi—Mao Haifeng.
Wang Zhi waved his hand at his adopted son's flattery, "How can a century-old business be successful? Have you forgotten the disaster at Shuangyu Port? Decades of hard work were destroyed in an instant by Zhu Wan."
"Don't worry, godfather. Times have changed. Your wish today will surely come true." Mao Haifeng comforted him.
"Why do you think so?!" Wang Zhi asked with interest.
"It is said that a man who knows the current affairs is a hero. From my point of view, the current affairs are maritime trade, and the maritime ban is no longer appropriate. Zhu Wan was so powerful in the past. He was the admiral of Zhejiang and Fujian's maritime defense military affairs and the governor of Zhejiang. He destroyed Shuangyu Port in one fell swoop. However, he did not know the current affairs and acted recklessly against the trend. He implemented the strict maritime ban by the Baojia system. As a result, he was killed by his own people before we took action to retaliate. Since Zhu Wan's death, no one in the southeast dared to talk about the maritime ban. The Ming court did not set up an inspector minister. The governor of Zhejiang and Fujian has been vacant for four years. The southeastern maritime defense is in name only. Only one or two out of ten warships and sentry ships survive. For us, it is no different from a deserted place. Some time ago, the remnants of Chen Sipan ran rampant in Taizhou Prefecture, burning, killing, looting and escaping unscathed. Now, whether it is Ningbo Prefecture, Shaoxing Prefecture, or Hangzhou Prefecture, none of them does not tacitly approve the private market. The maritime ban is essentially in name only."
Mao Haifeng pointed to the coast not far away, pointed in the direction of Ningbo and other places, and talked confidently.
Wang Zhi smiled slightly when he heard this, and then seriously warned Mao Haifeng, "The government is very fickle, so don't be careless."
"My foster father taught me, and I remember it in my heart. Not to mention the government, the people are even more so. The wealthy and aristocratic families in Zhejiang and Fujian compete to communicate with us secretly, trade with us, and deliver goods to us; almost every household along the coast of Jiangsu and Zhejiang is involved in smuggling trade, and there is always one aunt or uncle who has a secret relationship with us. During this period, as soon as we docked, some ordinary people competed to sell us rice, flour, oil and wine. I can walk to the streets of Hangzhou and Suzhou with my men and do business with the local people openly, and the local government seems to be blind and does not care at all."
Mao Haifeng nodded vigorously and continued.
At this moment, there was a commotion on the distant shore, and there seemed to be a large group of people. Wang Zhi alertly asked someone to investigate.
Soon, the investigators came back and reported, "Your Majesty, the noise just now was caused by some villagers from Ningbo Linhai. They were vying to send their children to our ship and begged Your Majesty to take them in."
"Haha, take them, take them all. I accept no one." Wang Zhi laughed out loud when he heard that.
"The people's hearts can be used. Congratulations, godfather." Mao Haifeng took the opportunity to compliment him.
"Hahaha..." Wang Zhi was very pleased and laughed a lot. He said to Mao Haifeng, "Tell the people below that we should not lower the price too much to the wealthy families, noble families and ordinary people who are secretly colluding with us and engaging in smuggling trade. We should give them some profits so that they can make money. This way, they can be better used by us. These people are our eyes and ears in the Ming Dynasty, and they are also the foundation for us to control the coastal areas of the Ming Dynasty."