Chapter 143 Tangled Zheng Zhilong

Although it is the Spring Festival, there is one person who does not feel relaxed at all because of the holiday in the coastal sea castle in Anping in the south of Quanzhou Prefecture at this time.

This person is not someone else. He is now the important minister of the Shaowu Dynasty in the Southern Ming Dynasty, Zheng Zhilong, the leader of the Zheng family, who is the governor of Fujian and the position of the admiral of the Fujian Marine Division.

In this year, Zheng Zhilong was just in his thirties and less than 40 years old. He was in his prime. His family history can be called a legend. From the earliest work under Li Dan, a pirate, he later became the largest pirate in the South China Sea. After accepting the Ming Dynasty, he turned around and became the ruler. The head of the Fujian navy in the Ming Dynasty became the general in the south of the Ming Dynasty. At the same time, he was also a red-top merchant and a hero across the sea in the Ming Dynasty.

Thinking of the huge unparalleled maritime strength he has created over the years, he sneezed all kinds of forces in Nanyang to catch a cold, which can be said to have reached the peak of his life.

Even the red-haired man and the Franco man have to give back to him by three points. If there is no flag on the sea, you can't pass it safely. At this time, Zheng Zhilong is already known as the hegemon of the South China Sea.

However, seeing that he had made such a great achievement, at this time, the Ming Dynasty, which he regarded as his support, suddenly collapsed under the blow of a defied civilian army that claimed to be the Xing Tianjun, which has risen in recent years.

Now Xiao Tianjian, the leader of the Xingtian Army, has become the emperor in Nanjing. In just a few years, he swept the huge Ming Dynasty into the garbage heap and controlled almost half of China.

Zheng Zhilong didn't expect such a situation. Originally, Zheng Zhilong thought that even if these defied civilian troops were tossed, the Ming Dynasty could still survive. Sooner or later, these defied troops could still be eliminated, but what he did not expect was that the Ming Dynasty was built like tofu dregs. It quickly collapsed under the offensive, which was now renamed the Dazhong Army.

Even Emperor Chongzhen, who was previously known as the Ming Dynasty, was forced by Xiao Tianjian, the new emperor of the Dazhong Dynasty, to die in Beijing, announcing the fall of the Ming Dynasty.

All this came so fast that Zheng Zhilong didn't know what to do for a while. When the capital came from the north and was conquered by the Dazhong army, Emperor Chongzhen committed suicide and martyred the country, and when the crown prince Zhu Ciyang announced the throne to the emperor Xiao Tianjian, the whole southern provinces immediately fell into chaos.

In less than half a month, the Ming Dynasty officials and the Ming army in southern Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Guizhou and other provinces, who had not yet been captured by the Dazhong army, announced their surrender to the Dazhong Dynasty one after another, which suddenly made the situation in the whole south very bad.

Although after learning the news, he immediately listened to the advice of Zhang Kentang, the governor of Fujian Province, Zhu Yuqi, the younger brother of the king of Tang who fled to Fujian at this time, became the emperor. He established the Shaowu Dynasty in Fujian and announced that Zhu Yuqi inherited the mantle of the Ming Dynasty and became the successor of the Ming Dynasty.

However, it was not thought that they did not contact the two sides in advance. Zhu Zhijian, the governor of the two directions, and Zhai Shixu, the governor of Guangxi, and others supported the emperor Zhu Youyu at the same time in Guangdong and also ascended the throne.

This is a good thing. Because of the lack of contact in advance, the two sides supported an emperor and both claimed to inherit the manor of the Ming Dynasty. The two emperors Yongli and Shaowu claimed to be orthodox. As a result, both sides rode a tiger, and no one refused to give in, so that the two small court claimed the emperor. After that, the two sides fought themselves for the sake of fame.

Zheng Zhilong thought that with their strength, they could easily swallow the Yongli Dynasty. Who knew that the situation was not as simple as he thought. Although he had a strong sailor and could blockade the coast of Guangdong and Guangxi, the Yongli Dynasty on the other side of Guangdong and Guangxi also gathered more than 100,000 Ming troops, making them unable to solve him in a short time. Our internal problems.

What worries Zheng Zhilong more is that after the fall of Zhejiang and Jiangxi, the Dazhong Army obviously began to increase troops at the junction of Fujian. Two months ago, it took Ganzhou, the gateway of Fujian, which exposed Fujian to the front of the Dazhong Army.

As a result, their Shaowu Dynasty could not concentrate their forces to annex the Yongli Dynasty first, and had to mobilize heavy troops in the north to guard against the attack of Fujian by the Dazhong army. In this way, their Shaowu Dynasty had to suffer from the enemy, which made them overwhelmed.

Another thing that worries Zheng Zhilong is very worried. The Zheng family relies on sea business, but with the fall of the northern provinces one after another, the production areas of their main commodities silk, porcelain and iron have fallen one after another. At this time, Fujian is not prosperous, the number of goods is limited, and the Dazhong army controls it. After these places, goods were not allowed to go to sea and cut off the supply of his important goods, which was a very serious blow to their Zheng family's business.

Although Zheng Zhilong sent his younger brother Zheng Zhibiao to lead more than a hundred ships north to attack the coast of Jiangsu and Zhejiang in an attempt to obtain a place for their use, the Dazhong army is not ordinary power. Even the defenders left in the areas of Nanzhili and Jiangsu and Zhejiang are very fierce, and the Dazhong army obviously also has sailors, although However, there were not many warships, but they were also quite fierce. They sent warships to garrison in Songjiangfu and Ningbofu, and their strength gradually increased. During the Spring Festival, they sent troops to capture Zhoushan, which made his brother Zheng Zhibiao lose his foothold and had to lead the fleet back to Fujian.

Nowadays, Chen Bing of the Dazhong Army is staring at Fujian outside Xianxia Pass and the Water Pass. It is possible to attack Fujian at any time. In that case, once Fujian is lost, the Zheng family will lose its foothold.

During this period, the soldiers of the Zheng family have also fought with the Dazhong army many times, but it can be said that they have been defeated again and again, and they have not taken advantage of it.

According to the defeated generals, the tactics of the Dazhong army are very different from those of the Ming army. They are equipped with a large number of sharp and abnormal fire guns, which are much more powerful than the birds used in the Ming Dynasty. They are also equipped with a lot of all kinds of Hongyi cannons. What's more, the military discipline is fierce and fierce. The tactics are more like the tactics of the Red Hair and the Fran machineman.

Although Zheng Zhilong relies on the advantage of dominating the Nanyang and can buy cannons and guns from the Dutch, Portuguese and the Spaniards, he still can't compete with the Dazhong army. He can't take any advantage of firearms by fighting with the Dazhong army. Zheng Zhilong has begun to worry at this time.

Because he knows that the climate of the Dazhong Dynasty has been completed. After Jiannu was beaten back to Liaodong by the Dazhong Army, the Dazhong Dynasty has no worries for the time being. Next, a large number of elite Dazhong troops will gather towards the south, although there is also a thief in Shaanxi, Li Zicheng, who is with Dazhong. The army played against it, but before the Spring Festival, news came from Shaanxi that Li Zicheng's fight with the Dazhong Army can be said to be a defeat. Even his Dashun's capital Xi'an Mansion was also taken by the Dazhong Army, forcing Li Zicheng to flee to Hanzhong. Li Zicheng could no longer contain the strength of Dazhong.

In this way, the Dazhong Dynasty will have enough elite troops and horses to move to the south. It is only a matter of time before they attack Fujian and Liangguang. If it is not expected, the Dazhong army will launch a fierce attack before March at the latest. Will the two small court of Nanming still survive at that time?

Zheng Zhilong is actually very clear that the two small court in the south can't make trouble at this time. They must unite and may also fight against the Dazhong Dynasty. However, the current problem is that neither of the two small dynasties, Shaowu and Yongli, is willing to be soft. Even if he is willing to give up supporting Emperor Shaowu at this time. Instead, he supported Yongli, but after several months of confrontation, his Zheng family had already offended the Yongli Dynasty to death. Even if he was soft, would Emperor Yongli give him a good face?

Now Zheng Zhilong's biggest trouble is the persuasion of him from the Dazhong Dynasty. Xiao Tianjian, the emperor of the Dazhong Dynasty, sent Qian Qianyi, the minister of the Ming Dynasty, to Fujian in person, and brought a handwritten letter from Xiao Tianjian. In this letter, Xiao Tianjian told the dark weakness and decay of the Ming Dynasty, and in the letter to Zheng Zhi Long said that they are all Han people. They should not kill each other like this. The country will be unified. No matter how they resist, they can't change this reality. At most, it is to delay the destruction of the small court in Nanming. Doing so can only increase casualties and consume the national strength of the Han people.

And Xiao Tianjian told Zheng Zhilong that now as Chinese people, the first thing they should consider is to go north to Liaodong, completely remove Jiannu, the confidant of the Han people, from the land of Liaodong as soon as possible, and return peace to the people of the world.

In addition, Xiao Tianjian also stated his opinions on sea merchants in a letter to Zheng Zhilong, telling Zheng Zhilong that his Dazhong Dynasty will never follow the example of the previous Ming Dynasty, seal the sea, allow sea merchants to go to sea merchants, and will also encourage and support sea merchants.

Xiao Tianjian also expressed great admiration for their Zheng family, because Xiao Tianjian knew a lot about their Zheng family. Although their Zheng family used to be a thief, after being appeased, they did a lot of things for the Chinese and safeguarded the rights and interests of Nanyang Chinese maritime merchants. Xiao Tianjian expressed his appreciation to Zheng Zhilong. And it is guaranteed that as long as Zheng Zhilong leads the Zheng family to obey the Dazhong Dynasty, then he can ensure the safety of the Zheng clan and will never persecute them, let alone confiscate the Zheng family's property and ensure the commercial interests of the Zheng family. At the same time, he can seal Zheng Zhilong Jing Haigong. I hope that Zheng Zhilong can put national righteousness first and no longer use the army and the Dazhong Dynasty as the enemy. .

Even Xiao Tianjian promised that if Zheng Zhilong defected to the Great China Dynasty, even Emperor Shaowu could guarantee that he would not kill him.

Xiao Tianjian's letter moved Zheng Zhilong a lot, especially the issue of banning the sea, which made Zheng Zhilong quite moved. In addition, after Qian Qianyi came to Fujian on this trip, he also urged Zheng Zhilong not to continue to be the enemy of Dazhong North Korea, but to turn to the Great China and North Korea quickly. Miao, in addition, he mentioned many famous ministers of the former Ming Dynasty, and now they have turned to serve the Dazhong Dynasty. Xiao Tianjian is a generation of Ming emperors. He will never break his promise and become fat, which is not good for the Zheng family afterwards.

Zheng Zhilong was even more moved by this, because where the matter was put, among the important ministers of the previous dynasty, such as Lu Xiangsheng, Ding Qirui, Sun Chuanting, Lv Weiqi, etc., are now valued by Xiao Tianjian. They are not pursued by Xiao Tianjian because they were enemies of Xiao Tianjian. On the contrary, they are entrusted with heavy trust. Therefore, Xiao Tianjian said that he would not investigate the Zheng family's enemy of him afterwards, which he believed.

So after seeing Xiao Tianjian's letter and listening to Qian Qianyi's advice, Zheng Zhilong has actually begun to waver and doesn't want to be the enemy of the Dazhong Dynasty anymore. After all, he is different from the loyalties of other Ming Dynasty. He was not a court official before, and he was originally an enemy of the Ming Dynasty, but he was not Later, he accepted Xiong Wencan's appeasement, so he was not loyal to Daming. The reason why he supported Emperor Shaowu in Fujian was that he was afraid that after the Dazhong Dynasty captured Fujian, it would be unfavorable to their Zheng family and take away the property of the Zheng family, so he chose to be the enemy of the Dazhong Dynasty.

Now that the Dazhong Emperor has made a clear statement that after he defected, he will not blame what the Zheng family has done before, retain their Zheng family property, and guarantee their power to do business on the sea, then they have no reason to continue to fight with the Dazhong Dynasty to the end, and finally end up martyred with the Ming Dynasty.

In Zheng Zhilong's view, the foundation of the Zheng family is still on land. If the Great China and North Korea captures Fujian, they can take the fleet back to Penghu, and even rob Dong Fan (Taiwan) occupied by the Dutch. However, after all, they still have to make a living from sea merchants. Penghu and Taiwan can use the capital for them. The source is quite limited. Although their sailors can dominate the sea now, he can also see that this emperor Xiao Tianjian is a talented person. This can be seen from the fact that he can calm the north and overthrow the Ming Dynasty in just a few years that this person is definitely not easy to deal with.

And from Xiao Tianjian's letter to him, he can also see that Xiao Tianjian is very much concerned about the big sea and is also very proficient in things on the sea. Therefore, even if he can temporarily lead his subordinates and dominate the sea, Xiao Tianjian will never sit and watch him cross the sea and pose a threat to the Greater China. Sooner or later, he can use the resources of the whole country to create a powerful sailor far beyond his Zheng family and completely erase their Zheng family group from Nanyang.

So now, under the pressure of the situation, Zheng Zhilong is actually not in the mood to continue to fight against the Great China and North Korea. On land, he knows that the army recruited by his provincial power is not the opponent of the Great China and North Korea at all, and the loss of Fujian is only a matter of time.

For this point, he recruited several younger brothers and important ministers under his command a few years ago. He discussed it in detail, but there are still some internal disputes about whether to surrender to the Great China and North Korea. The main reason for the controversy is not whether to surrender to Xing Tian. The matter of the army is how to surrender, and what should the sailors of the Zheng family do after the surrender.

In fact, the whole Zheng family can also see that Daming was actually destroyed when the capital fell. Now the two small court in the south can't become a big business. If they want to take back the world again, with their strength, there is basically no need to think about it, and the Dazhong army is very fierce, not him at all. We can deal with it. Instead of being destroyed by the Dazhong army, it's better to surrender first, which can also preserve the strength of their Zheng family group.

But the reason why some people oppose it is not that some people don't want to surrender, but the key is how to surrender. Many people under Zheng Zhilong have proposed that it is okay to surrender, but after the Zheng family surrender, Zheng Zhilong will be the king of Fujian, and the Zheng family also needs to preserve the current army, especially the sailors. Under our control.

Zheng Zhilong also agreed with this point. After all, whoever has soldiers and generals in the world has a strong waist. So a few years ago, Zheng Zhilong secretly informed them of the conditions for their surrender to Dazhong Dynasty and was ordered to come to talk about Qian Qianyi, but Qian Qianyi immediately refused Zheng Zhilong's request.

During the period when Qian Qianyi was captured by Xiao Tianjian, as a celebrity, Qian Qianyi was not persecuted by the Dazhong army, and Qian Qianyi and Ding Qirui had a good personal relationship. After Ding Qirui surrendered to Xiao Tianjian, although Qian Qianyi did not become an official in the Dazhong Dynasty, he was allowed to go out.

When Xiao Tianjian invited Qian Qianyi to send an envoy to Fujian, he talked to Qian Qian Qianyi about some conditions for Zheng Zhilong's surrender. It is clear that the Dazhong Dynasty will never allow private armed forces to be on one side. If Zheng Zhilong is willing to join the Dazhong Dynasty, then he can ensure the safety and interests of the Zheng family's property and the merchant fleet. It will be damaged, but the Zheng family's water army must be under the rule of the Dazhong Dynasty and reorganized. The soldiers of the Zheng family must also be included in the banner of the Dazhong Army and accept the dispatch and appointment of the Dazhong army. If he is willing to stay in the water army, Xiao Tianjian will use it.

It was also because of this incident that Zheng Zhilong dragged down the matter of defecting to the Dazhong Army. After all, at the earliest time, these people were also thieves and merchants. What they relied on on the sea was their force. Now Dazhong and North Korea requires them to hand over their force, which makes them uneasy and worry about once they handing over the weapons. After the force, even the commercial interests can't be guaranteed.

Especially now that they can almost dominate the South China Sea. Even the red-haired people and the French people have to act according to their faces. Once the sailors are handed over, they will no longer be able to sail in Nanyang in the future. Zheng Zhilong did not want to agree to this matter. His brothers Zheng Zhibiao and Zheng Zhibao refused to agree, so he voted for the Great Zhong Dynasty. The matter also dragged on.

As soon as this matter dragged on, there was a change. I don't know who led to the news about the Chinese and North Korea persuading Zheng Zhilong to surrender. It reached the ears of Emperor Shaowu of Fujian and Fujian governor Zhang Kentang. Zhang Kentang immediately questioned Zheng Zhilong whether this matter was true. Zheng Zhilong was very embarrassed for this. He had no choice but to deny it and expressed After the Spring Festival, troops will be sent to the north to conquer Nanjing.

This sentence is simply a joke. Everyone knows that thanks to God that they can defend Fujian with their strength alone. Zheng Zhilong said that he would recover Nanjing.

In this way, not only did it dispel Zhang Kentang and Emperor Shaowu's doubts about the Zheng family, but also made Emperor Shaowu feel panicked.

While Zheng Zhilong was struggling in Zhengjiacheng, Anping, whether he should surrender to Dazhong North Korea. Suddenly, Zheng Zhilong's younger brother Zheng Zhibiao broke in from the outside and exclaimed, "Brother! It's not a big deal! Emperor Shaowu suddenly left Quanzhou City this morning, escorted by more than 1,000 Ming troops led by Zhang Kentang, and fled in the direction of Guangdong. They no longer believe us!"

After listening to this, Zheng Zhilong immediately lost the tea bowl and stood up...