Chapter 1,385: Looting more than 900,000 gold and hundreds of yin of jewels
In order to maintain long-term rule, literary prison became a phenomenon-level punishment that occurred from time to time during the Manchu Qing Dynasty.
As long as it is interpreted as dissatisfaction with the government, the author will suffer.
It can be seen that although it was in power, there was always a lingering shadow in the heart of the Manchu Qing government, which was its lack of confidence in the legitimacy of its own ruling position.
As visitors from outside the customs, it is difficult for these Eight Banners nobles to find a sense of identity in the Central Plains, even though they have ruled the Han people for many years.
However, the fate will come sooner or later. Although the Manchu and Qing government strictly supervised the Han people, the people still established large and small resistance organizations to drive outsiders like them back outside the customs.
These civil organizations often use the banner of Prince Zhu San, and their leaders present themselves as descendants of the Ming Dynasty to awaken people's nostalgia for the Ming Dynasty and enhance cohesion.
Therefore, for a long period of time, Prince Zhu San was like a ghost, causing the Manchu and Qing government no peace.
Next is the Tiandihui. Unlike many organizations, although the Tiandihui also aims to expel the Manchu rulers, it does not rely on the people's nostalgia for the Ming Dynasty.
Therefore, the Tiandihui did not use the descendants of the Ming Dynasty royal family as a way to unite the masses, but used ethnic conflicts as the entry point.
Judging from the subsequent development of things, Tiandihui's approach was more effective.
The reason is that the Ming Dynasty has been destroyed for a long time, and it is really meaningless to restore a destroyed dynasty.
But ethnic conflicts are visible to the naked eye.
The world ruled by the Han people should be decided by the Han people.
Because of this, Tiandihui has achieved long-term and stable development among the people.
During that period, they suddenly became very powerful and became a serious problem for the Manchu government.
In many film and television works, the Tiandihui is a very important existence, and appears as an incarnation of justice.
According to relevant records, the founder of the Tiandihui was Chen Yonghua, who was Zheng Chenggong’s military advisor.
After Zheng Chenggong died, Wanwan was unable to compete with the Qing government.
So Chen Yonghua sneaked into the interior and secretly founded the Tiandihui.
But he gave himself a famous pseudonym: Chen Jinnan.
As a result, Mr. Chen has stepped onto the stage of history and played important roles in many film and television works.
The Tiandihui was not only very influential at the time, as the so-called "Red Flowers, Green Leaves and White Lotus Roots", the Hongmen, Qinggang and White Lotus Sect were all gangs derived from the Tiandihui.
With the wealth accumulated by Zheng Chenggong, Chen Jinnan has absolute economic strength.
So how much wealth did Zheng Chenggong have during his time?
Chen Wenzhe didn't know anything else. He knew about an incident that happened in the fifth year of Yongli Dynasty. This incident showed how rich Zheng Chenggong was.
It was 1651 AD. Zhang Xuesheng, governor of Fujian in the Qing Dynasty, and others took advantage of Zheng Chenggong's main force heading south to Guangdong Province to send troops to capture Xiamen City.
However, when they returned from victory, not only did they not receive awards from the Qing court, but they were removed from their official positions and escorted to the capital for trial.
What's going on? Let's start with the huge wealth of Zheng Chenggong that they robbed.
After his father surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, Zheng Chenggong led his cronies to Nan'ao Island to recruit troops and vow to fight against the Qing Dynasty.
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Then he vigorously developed foreign trade and accumulated huge wealth in a few years.
Zheng Chenggong, who had a small territory, snatched Xia City as his base from Zheng Cai and Zheng Lian brothers in the fourth year of Yongli.
Later, most of the wealth was transferred to Xiamen City to recruit anti-Qing forces from various coastal areas.
After the rapid growth of strength, the supply of grain and grass was in short supply.
In order to solve this problem, Zheng Chenggong sent his uncle Zheng Hongkui to collect grain and grass in the Chaozhou area.
Due to the large number of collections, local people were dissatisfied and resisted.
What's even worse is that the Qing army that occupied Guangdong Province also took the opportunity to attack.
For a time, Zheng Hongkui was caught in a dilemma from two sides and had to send someone to ask for help from Zheng Chenggong.
After receiving the message asking for help, Zheng Chenggong left his uncle Zheng Zhiwan to guard Xia City and personally led the main force south to Guangdong Province to support Zheng Hongkui.
In March of the fifth year of Yongli, Zheng Chenggong conquered Daxingsuo and other places and seized the accumulated grain and grass.
The news of the departure of Zheng Chenggong's main force reached Hu Jian. The Qing court Hu Jian's governor Zhang Xuesheng, the patrolman Huang Shu, and Hu Jian's general on the right were overjoyed and decided to take advantage of this God-given opportunity to launch a surprise attack on Xiamen City.
The reason why the three of them were so active in attacking Xiamen City was not because they were loyal to the Qing government, but because they had their own little calculations.
They had long heard that Zheng Chenggong had made huge wealth from trading, and that the money had been shipped to Xiamen City.
By attacking Xia City, they could not only express their loyalty to the Qing court in order to gain promotion to the imperial court, but also seize Zheng Chenggong's wealth for themselves. It could be said that they killed two birds with one stone.
After the three people discussed it, Ma Degong led the Qing army to cross the sea and attack Xiamen City on February 27th.
Zheng Zhiwan, who was guarding Xia City, was a fool. He drank and had fun all day long without taking any precautions. As a result, the Xia City defenders and navy were easily defeated by the Qing army.
What's even more hateful is that after Zheng Zhiwan knew that the Qing army was attacking, he immediately boarded a boat and fled, not even taking Zheng Chenggong's wife Dong and his eldest son Zheng Jing with him in Xiamen City.
When the Qing troops entering the city were busy looting, Dong took Zheng Jing in his arms and escaped from Xiamen on a small boat, boarding Zheng Zhiwan's warship.
After the fall of Xiamen City, almost all of the wealth that Zheng Chenggong transferred to the city fell into the hands of Ma Degong, and a small amount was snatched away by Qing soldiers.
After Ma Degong succeeded, he sent a letter to Zhang Xuesheng and Huang Shu, asking them to come to Xiamen to discuss the aftermath. In fact, the three of them divided the spoils.
How much money did the three people share? According to Zheng Chenggong's letter to his father after the incident, he said: "I was robbed of more than 900,000 yuan in gold, hundreds of yin in jewelry, and hundreds of thousands of rice and millet. The rest of the soldiers' wealth and silk, how can I win against the people's money and grain?"
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While the three people were carving up Zheng Chenggong's property, the Qing soldiers were not idle either. They looted from house to house, plundering all the people in Xia City.
After the incident, Zhang Xuesheng and Huang Shu returned to Hu Jian with their property, leaving Ma Degong behind to defend Xia City.
News of the fall of Xiamen reached Guangdong Province, and Zheng Chenggong was greatly shocked.
The officers and soldiers under his command were worried that something might happen to their relatives, so they all advised Zheng Chenggong to return to the army immediately.
Zheng Chenggong ordered Zheng Hongkui to lead some of his troops back to Shixia City first, and he himself would follow up with the main force.
Zheng Hongkui surrounded Xia City and trapped Ma Degong in the city.
Ma Degong's liver and gallbladder were split apart, and he hurriedly sent someone to ask the governor for help.
Zhang Xuesheng immediately sent Zhang City General Feng Junrui and 600 troops to support, but they were blocked by Zheng Hongkui's men and unable to enter Xiamen City.
Ma Degong was desperate and had a sudden idea.
He sent someone to intercede with Huang, Zheng Chenggong's grandmother who lived in Anhai, and asked her to come forward and let Zheng Hongkui withdraw from the siege and let him return to Hu Jian.
The Huang family lived in the area controlled by the Qing court and did not dare to go against the wishes of the Qing army and wrote to Zheng Hongkui to plead for mercy.
Zheng Hongkui did not dare to reject his mother's face, so he ordered the withdrawal of the siege and sent more than thirty ships to send Ma Degong and his men back to Hu Jian.