Wenzhou Sanpan Island is not big. According to later calculations, it is only a little more than two square kilometers. It is mostly mountains and tidal flats, with very little flat land.
Zhou Hezhi, the Marquis of Pinglu, and Zhou Rui, the Marquis of Min'an, each have thousands of troops on the island, one in the north and one in the south.
The small Sanpan Island cannot accommodate two kings, and they often quarrel. For no reason other than for some firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar and tea.
Don’t laugh, there is nothing bigger than eating. The Qing army was strictly guarded on the mainland, and it was getting harder and harder to go to Wenzhou to collect grain. The two of them argued countless times over how to distribute the captured food, and finally agreed to use Wenzhou Haian’s As the boundary, what was captured to the north of Hai'an belonged to Zhou Rui, and what was captured to the south belonged to Zhou Hezhi.
The territory on the mainland is well divided, but what about the sea?
On this day, Zhou Hezhi's men intercepted the fleet of a large merchant and obtained a large amount of "travel money".
Zhou Rui quit after hearing about it. The sea route is shared by both of us, so he asked to meet and share half of it.
Zhou Hezhi refused. The fleet was discovered by my subordinates. If you want to make a fortune, go to the sea to find it yourself.
The two couldn't argue, and the lawsuit was brought to Lu Jianguo. Lu Jianguo ordered Inspector Wu Mingzhong to go to Sanpan Island to mediate.
Unfortunately, Lu Jianguo didn't know that Wu Mingzhong had another identity. He went to Sanpan Island not to mediate, but to add more fuel to the already tense situation between the two princes.
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Pinglu Hou Zhou Hezhi was walking on the beach, letting the sea breeze lift his long robe.
"Father!"
A young figure ran towards him quickly.
"Huh? Is it Gao'er? Have you come back from Japan? What did King Sasma say?"
It was Zhou Hezhi's son Zhou Lingao who came. When Zhou Hezhi was a pirate, he had a very good relationship with the Japanese. He once asked his son Zhou Lingao to recognize King Sasima of Japan (the Lord of the Satsuma Domain of Japan) as his adoptive father.
Now that the situation was critical, Zhou Hezhi took up the Japanese idea and sent his son to Japan to recruit troops.
Zhou Lingao lowered his head and said, "King Sasma said that finances are tight and he cannot send reinforcements."
"Alas," Zhou Hezhi sighed, "Gao'er has worked hard, go down and have a rest!"
Zhou Hezhi, the Marquis of Pinglu, and Zhou Rui, the Marquis of Min'an, are of the same clan. They are both from Fuqing County, Fujian Province. In terms of seniority, Zhou Ruizhi calls Zhou Hezhi his elder brother, and Zhou Hezhi calls Zhou Rui his younger brother. Zhou Hezhi's character is Jiuyuan (some say Jiuxuan), and Zhou Rui The word Jiubao means blood is thicker than water.
It's useless. When it comes to interests, even brothers can turn against each other, let alone clan brothers.
Since childhood, Zhou Hezhi has been proficient in martial arts and likes to do chivalry and justice. In the eyes of his parents, he is a "troublemaker"; while Zhou Rui is a "good boy" in the eyes of his parents.
Later, because Zhou Hezhi often fought for the poor, he was regarded as a thorn in the side of the local tycoons and repeatedly tried to harm him. He simply robbed the rich and helped the poor, becoming a famous "Wang Yang Thief".
During the Chongzhen period, he was recruited and became the commander-in-chief. After that, his official career was prosperous and he became the Pinglu Hou of the Ming Dynasty.
This man was extremely courageous. Zheng Zhilong forced him to surrender to the Qing Dynasty, but he refused. He even threatened his death and persisted in resisting the Qing Dynasty along the southeast coast.
Interestingly, Zhou Rui, who was a "good boy" when he was a child, also became a pirate when he grew up and became Zheng Cai's lieutenant.
That year, Lu Jianguo was beaten by Boluo and was forced to sail. Zheng Cai thought it was "a rare thing to live in", so he took Zhou Rui to Zhoushan to welcome Lu Jianguo Zhu Yihai to Xiamen.
Then, Zhu Yihai discussed his merits and rewarded them, and made Zheng Cai the founding Duke and Zhou Rui the Marquis of Min'an.
Zhu Yihai liked Zhou Rui very much and thought he was more polite and unlike Zheng Cai who was overbearing. So he got married to Zhou Rui and married his eldest daughter to Zhou Rui's son Zhou Yanchang.
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When Inspector Wu Mingzhong arrived at Sanpan Island, the two marquises naturally wanted to greet him.
The three of them had dinner together, and Zhou Rui and Zhou Hezhi quarreled again over the "travel money".
Zhou Rui: Half of it when you meet.
Zhou Hezhi: Whoever finds it will get it.
Wu Mingzhong smiled: "Don't argue, you two. Of course, whoever finds it will get it. The Supervisor has said that the seizure should go to Zhou Hezhi."
Wu Mingzhong is Zhu Yihai's special envoy. From the perspective of others, his words naturally represent Zhu Yihai's attitude.
Zhou Hezhi was overjoyed: "The sage who oversees the country!"
Zhou Rui was furious and complained to Wu Mingzhong after dinner, "Jian Guo and I are related by marriage, what about Jian Guo? Help me help outsiders?"
Wu Mingzhong smiled: "Just because you and Jian Guo are related by marriage, I can only make you suffer. What if Zhou Hezhi suffers and he defectes to someone else?"
Zhou Rui was indignant.
A few days later, whenever Zhou Rui and Zhou Hezhi had a dispute, Wu Mingzhong would always favor Zhou Hezhi, making Zhou Rui so angry that his liver ached.
On this day, the three of them were discussing matters when they suddenly reported that the special envoy of Lu Jianguo was coming from the sea.
The person who came was a fat man, with a belly as big as a ball and a fat face. He smiled like a Maitreya Buddha. He claimed to be Wang Lian, a doctor in the Ministry of War of the State of Lu.
As soon as he saw this fat man, Wu Mingzhong's face immediately turned into a smile, "Wang Lang Zhong has come a long way to work hard. I wonder what purpose he brought to the prison?"
"Alas", the big fat man sighed, "Now the Qing army is encircling and suppressing the rebels in eastern Zhejiang. In order to supervise the country's orders, Zhou Rui, the Marquis of Min'an, led his troops back to defend Zhoushan."
After speaking, he took out the edict and everyone took a look. The seal, monogram and seal were all correct.
"What, the supervisory country actually wants me to evacuate Sanpan Island and go to Zhoushan?"
Zhou Rui quit. He finally got this bit of territory, so how could he be willing to give it to Zhou Hezhi?
The excuse is that it takes time to prepare, so I put it off and refuse to go.
Wu Mingzhong introduced Wang Lian into the back hall and said, "Wang Deputy Qianhu, where did you get the seal of King Lu of the Supervisory State?"
Wang Lian chuckled, "You didn't know this, but Zha Rulong is an expert at forging seals. This kind of thing is a piece of cake for him."
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Zhou Rui delayed and refused to go, and Wu Mingzhong and Wang Lian pressed each other every day.
He was very depressed and gradually became resentful towards Lu Jianguo.
There is no perfect path for man, so I suddenly reported that a messenger from my old superior, Founding Duke Zheng Cai, had arrived.
It turned out that after Zheng Cai went to Changsha to meet Zhu Hengjia, he was named the envoy of Fujian and Zhejiang. Zhu Hengjia ordered him to recruit Zheng's old troops in Fujian and Zhejiang provinces to assist Yan Tianfeng in attacking Fujian. He thought of his old subordinate Zhou Rui, the special envoy Surrender.
Zhou Rui thought that if he followed Lu Jianguo and suffered too much, it would be better to defect to his old superior Zheng Cai.
Then one night, he suddenly led his troops to Chaozhou and became part of the navy under the command of Yan Tianfeng, the general of the Ming Dynasty.
As soon as Zhou Rui left, only two days after Zhou Hezhi was proud, the Qing army came to attack him.
Now, he missed Zhou Rui very much. With Zhou Rui here, the two of them joined forces and had more than 10,000 naval troops, so they were not afraid of the Qing army. Without Zhou Rui, he only had more than 6,000 troops, so how could he defeat 20,000? The Qing army was so defeated that they had no choice but to flee to Zhoushan with more than 3,000 remaining soldiers, Wu Mingzhong and Wang Lian.
As soon as Zhou Hezhi's defeated troops fled to Shuangyu Island in Zhoushan, they were surrounded by more than 10,000 naval divisions led by Zhu Hengjia's general and Ming Hou Lincha.
Lin Cha sent someone to tell Zhou Hezhi that he had to choose either to submit to King Jing of the Supervisory State or to be annihilated.
"Hou Pinglu, a man who knows the time and handles the affairs well is a hero. Going to Prince Jing is also to serve the Ming Dynasty. Surrender!"
"That's right, Marquis Pinglu, King Lu has no food and salary now. If you follow King Jing, you won't have to worry about food and drink. Please surrender!"
Wu Mingzhong and Wang Lian together persuaded Zhou Hezhi to surrender.
Zhou Hezhi is very strange, you two are ministers of His Royal Highness King Lu, why do you persuade me to surrender to King Jing?
The two of them laughed and said that they were originally the people of King Jing of the country. King Jing of the country has admired you for a long time and used special tricks to force you to submit.
Zhou Hezhi sighed sadly, "His Royal Highness Prince Jing is so good at it!"
He had no choice but to surrender to Jing, and He Tengjiao settled his troops on Xiaoxieshan Island.
Zhou Rui and Zhou Hezhi surrendered to Jing, which dealt a huge blow to Zhu Yihai, the governor of Lu. It not only cut off the Lu army's retreat south to Sanpan Island, but also psychologically shook Zhu Yihai's confidence in ruling the world.
Zhu Yihai thought, even his in-law, Zhou Rui, the Marquis of Min'an, surrendered to Jing. Could it be that destiny really lies in Jing and not in Lu?
This chapter has been completed!