On the sixth day of May, Li Zhi searched Dinghai City for five days, digging three feet into the ground, and finally counted all the property of the Zheng family.
After the property was found, Li Zhi was about to kill someone. Li Zhi had someone take Zheng Zhilong to the north gate of Dinghai City at noon and wanted to be executed in public.
After Li Zhi captured Dinghai City on the first day of May, the news of the Zheng family's demise spread wildly in Fujian. Especially after the defeated troops in Dinghai City were dismissed by Li Zhi after they removed their weapons and armor, the news quickly followed the demobilized private soldiers of the Zheng family.
Spread. Fujian's bureaucrats, generals and warriors were all greatly surprised.
Zheng Zhilong has been operating in Fujian for more than ten years and is almost the uncrowned king of Fujian. Which major military and political affairs in Fujian are not made by Zheng Zhilong? All food and salary for the Fujian garrison camp are allocated and transferred by Zheng Zhilong. Even Wu Zhiping, the governor of Fujian, must
Look at Zheng Zhilong's face and act accordingly.
Many Fujian officials knew that Zheng Zhilong threatened Li Zhi to rob Li Zhi's overseas property. Zheng Zhilong claimed to be the king of the sea, so since he threatened Li Zhi in public in the court, he naturally would not hide it.
What everyone did not expect was that Zheng Zhilong, who dominated the southeast, ran into Li Zhi this time. This Duke of Jin was really terrifying. He could defeat 50,000 Qing cavalry on land and Zheng Zhilong on the sea.
.
Li Zhi is a murderer. If Zheng Zhilong can bite Li Zhi, he will make a lot of money. If he can't bite, he will be killed by Li Zhi, which is expected.
Zheng Zhilong had a lot of interests with people in Fujian officialdom. Many bureaucrats who were close friends with Zheng Zhilong rushed to Dinghai City to see off the Fujian General Soldier for the last time.
On the sixth day of May, at the North City Gate execution ground, there was a huge crowd, crowded with scholars and warriors who came to see Zheng Zhilong.
Li Zhi sat above the execution ground, wondering whether Zheng Zhilong had deceived him and hid the money.
The cellar Li Zhi mentioned by Zheng Zhilong has been found, and 6.2 million taels of silver were moved out of it. The silver was all stamped Japanese ding silver and was of good quality. Although the Zheng family made its fortune through robbery, it became the largest
Later, the pirates also vigorously developed maritime trade, and most of the money they earned came from Eastern trade.
Not only that, Li Zhi also found 180,000 shi of grain in the city's granary, and 2,500 tons of Zhangzhou white raw silk in the Zheng family warehouse. These raw silks were probably intended to be sold to the East and Southeast.
The silver, raw silk and grain in the cellar were worth seven million taels of silver together, which was a huge fortune.
In recent years, due to the inflation of the Ming Dynasty and the rise in prices, the profits of maritime trade have continued to decline. The Zheng family has dozens of ships engaged in maritime trade, and their annual profit is about one million taels of silver. Maritime merchants operating in the two provinces of Fujian and Guangdong
There were about a hundred seagoing ships, and each ship gave Zheng Zhilong 2,000 taels of silver to buy passage, which was about 200,000 taels a year. Adding in Beigang's income, Zheng Zhilong could earn about two million taels a year.
But Zheng Chenggong's expenses were also huge. He had to raise 50,000 private soldiers and pirates, maintain hundreds of warships, and send money to the court's civil servants. After all, he could not save much wealth.
Moreover, Zheng Zhilong was afraid that Li Zhi would kill his children, so he did not dare to hide his property even if he thought about it. Li Zhi calculated again and again and felt that Zheng Zhilong had not lied to him.
Speaking of which, Zheng Zhilong had 50,000 private soldiers dominating the southeast sea, but he only had 7 million taels of property. No wonder he coveted Li Zhi's Hsinchu.
Li Zhi was thinking about it when he suddenly saw a civil servant wearing a red official robe standing out from the crowd and walking towards him with ten civil servants.
"The lower official Wu Zhiping, governor of Fujian, has met Duke Jin!"
Li Zhi sat on the chair and looked at the Fujian governor, and said "hmm" in return.
Wu Zhiping raised his hands and said: "Your Excellency, the Duke of Jin, although Zheng Zhilong has offended the Duke of Jin and deserves to die. But I, the officials in Fujian, are willing to raise money to buy the life of Zheng Zhilong, the general soldier of Fujian! I hope that the Duke of Jin will show his noble hand."
Li Zhi smiled when he heard this.
These civil servants have always accepted many benefits from Zheng Zhilong. This Wu Zhiping has a good personal character and is willing to rescue the Zheng family at this time. Li Zhi looked at Wu Zhiping and asked, "How much money are you willing to pay for Zheng Zhilong's life?"
"I am willing to give you twenty thousand taels of silver!"
Li Zhi shook his head and said: "Too young, if you offer two million taels, I will let Zheng Zhilong go."
The governor of Fujian blushed when he heard this. He knew that Li Zhi was playing a trick on him and said: "The Duke of the country is showing mercy, which is also a sign of evil."
Li Zhi waved his hand, and several personal guards walked up and drove these civil servants away. Wu Zhiping and a dozen other civil servants came with high hopes, but at this time they were driven away by the guards. All of a sudden, they felt that they were being polite, and looked at Li Zhi's
There was resentment in his eyes.
Li Zhi ignored these boring civil servants and didn't even bother to look at them.
It was almost noon, and Li Zhi was about to let the soldiers execute the execution, but he saw a tall scholar holding a jug of wine, pushing through the crowd and walking to the front of the execution platform. He ignored Li Zhi's soldiers and walked to the execution platform with the jug of wine.
He broke in and was immediately stopped by angry soldiers with rifles.
Seeing this scholar, several of Zheng Zhilong's children beside the execution ground began to cry. One of Zheng Zhilong's daughters went up to grab the scholar and shouted: "Brother, my father is leaving now. Don't get mad or irritable. There will be more trouble at home in the future."
It’s up to you to decide!”
The scholar looked at Zheng Zhilong in the execution ground and remained silent.
Seeing this scene, Li Zhi was a little curious, so he walked up and asked, "Scholar! What is your name?"
The scholar glared at Li Zhi and replied loudly: "Li Zhi! I am Zheng Sen, the eldest son of Zheng Zhilong, the commander-in-chief of Fujian Province. Li Zhi, won't you kill me?"
Li Zhi was stunned and secretly thought that Zheng Sen was Zheng Chenggong who regained Taiwan in history. At this time, Zheng Sen had not changed his name, and the world did not know that he would be a hero who fought against the Qing Dynasty in the future. In the original history, this Zheng Chenggong
At one time, he led troops to attack Nanjing and supported Nanming for several years with his family's strength.
Compared with Zheng Zhilong who surrendered to the Manchus, Zheng Chenggong was much more upright.
Li Zhi smiled and said, "If I don't kill you, what are you doing with the wine flask?"
When Zheng Sen saw that Li Zhi would not kill him, but even talked to him with a smile, he seemed to be insulted. He said loudly: "Of course I brought the wine to see my father off! Li Zhi, I am a scholar, and my teacher is your best teacher."
Qian Qianyi, the leader of the Donglin Party whom I hate, won’t you kill me?”
Li Zhi laughed loudly and said: "You Zheng Sen are not bad, you are a courageous person. Not only will I not kill you, but I will also give you a hundred taels of silver to start a small business. If someone bullies you in the future, I, Li Zhi, will be the first one."
Come out and help you!"
Zheng Sen looked at Li Zhi, his face red with anger. He pointed at Li Zhi with the wine bottle, gritted his teeth and said: "You...you..."
He couldn't say a word, so he finally became so angry that he threw the wine bottle on the ground and walked away.
Li Zhi looked at the young man walking away angrily and shook his head.
With a wave of his hand, Li Zhi said calmly: "The time has come!"
Zheng Zhilong, who was kneeling on the ground, suddenly moved a few steps forward and shouted loudly: "Dong Jin, if you don't kill me, I will be driven by you all my life to open up Nanyang trade for you!"
Li Zhi smiled and said nothing.
A soldier stepped onto the execution platform, aimed at Zheng Zhilong's head and pressed the trigger. There was only a clear snap, and a mist of blood emerged from the back of Zheng Zhilong's head. The once arrogant Zheng Zhilong fell on the execution platform without saying a word.
