When I came to the throne, I talked about the merits of the Xijue. If there are those whose merits are not rewarded, I should break the rules and show them with respect.
You, Zheng Zhilong, are loyal, wise and courageous. You managed the sea during the reign of Emperor Lie, and your reputation is already well known. When I ascended the throne at Xiaoling, the Central Plains was not yet settled, and you were deeply loyal. You first sent people to pay tribute in money and food, and then sent my brothers and nephews to lead the Northern Expedition.
The Fujian Navy went north to join us. Their hearts were loyal and their achievements were great.
When I was in charge of the country, Jin was granted the title of Marquis of Nan'an.
Every time I think about the great rewards of Zhilong Gong, I never feel satisfied.
I have made you the Duke of Pingguo, with a royal decree, and your descendants will inherit it hereditary. You will show your loyalty, try your best to serve, obey your favor, and will never be replaced forever. I am so grateful, so!
The tenth day of the first month of the second year of Shaotian."
Fuzhou, Fujian.
In the governor's office, Zheng Zhilong and a group of Fujian civil and military officials welcomed the angel's decree.
"Your Majesty Zheng Zhilong thanks the Lord for your kindness. Long live my emperor!"
Li Changxiang, the censor of Youqiandu and the left minister of the Ministry of War, took out another edict, "Ping Guogong Zheng Zhilong listens to the title!"
Zheng Zhilong bowed down again and accepted the title.
This letter is an edict consecrating Zheng Zhilong as the Shaobao and Taibao of the Crown Prince, and the Grand Scholar of Dongge.
Zheng Zhilong thanks you again.
Li Changxiang took out another edict.
Zheng Zhilong knelt again.
This edict appointed Zheng Zhilong as the governor of the imperial camp.
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After a long time, Zheng Zhilong pulled Li Changxiang to his seat.
Li Changxiang, who is in his thirties, was a Jinshi in the 16th year of Chongzhen. He is a fellow countryman of Xue Guoguan, the first assistant.
Supervisor, I have no other plan but to take advantage of my situation, even if I win a gold medal, I will not be allowed to move forward.
After the fall of Beijing, he went south, became friends with Zhang Huangyan, and together they traveled around to seek recovery.
On the recommendation of Zhang Huangyan, Zhu Yihai first appointed Li Changxiang as the censor of salt inspection in Zhejiang, and this time in Fujian. His friend Zhang Huangyan was awarded the title of governor of Taiwan by the emperor this time.
Taiwan had previously set up a government, but this time it did not set up a province. However, like Pian Yuan, Yunyang, and Nan Gan, a special governor was appointed to control the situation due to the special situation. This Taiwan governor was responsible for supervising military affairs and managing food and wages, and was responsible for patrolling Taiwan.
, Penghu, Zhangzhou and Quanzhou in Fujian, and Chaoshan in Guangdong were all placed under the jurisdiction of the Taiwan Governor.
Zheng Zhilong went north to join the cabinet, Zheng Hongkui took over as governor of Fujian, Zhang Huangyan was appointed governor of Taiwan, and Zhang Kentang remained governor of Fujian.
Li Changxiang is the patrol magistrate of Fujian, and Xu Fuyuan is the patrol magistrate of Taiwan.
"Before I went south, Your Majesty personally summoned me and explained again and again that Duke Zheng was a pillar in the southeast and was famous for hundreds of battles in the southeast. Now that there is a war in the Central Plains, I specially invited Duke Zheng to come out again, take charge of the governor's camp, and join the cabinet to participate in politics.
The eldest son has also led eight thousand soldiers from the royal camp southward, and will join forces with soldiers from Fujian and Guangdong provinces to attack the Dutch Red Hairs of the high officials. From now on, the Zheng family will be granted permanent control in Taiwan, just like the Mu family, Duke of Guizhou in Yunnan."
Zheng Zhilong was very happy after what he said.
Although this sea hero is famous, he is not actually old. He was born in the 32nd year of Wanli, and he is actually only 42 this year.
It’s just that after being exposed to the wind and sun for many years at sea, my skin looks darker and older.
He was born in a family of petty officials in Nan'an, Fujian, with a nickname of an official. When he was seventeen, he went to Xiangshan Ao (Macau) to depend on his uncle. Later he went to Manila, Luzon, learned Portuguese, and later received Catholic baptism and took his name
Nicholas.
Later, he traveled around the sea and became proficient in many languages, including Portuguese, Japanese, Dutch and Spanish.
When he was young, his uncle saw that he was capable, so he asked him to accompany the Japanese overseas Chinese Li Dan on his ship to escort goods to the East. He purchased sugar, musk, deerskin, nan and other goods from Fujian, sailed from Xiangshan Ao to Japan, and lived there for a long time.
Qi, doing business with Li Dan, a large merchant, is very capable.
Later, he was adopted by Li Dan as his adopted son and gave him some ships to do business in Annan, which made huge profits. As a result, Nicholas Zheng Yiguan became a wealthy man and a new wealthy man on the sea.
He also became a leader of overseas Chinese in Japan. He even visited Japan's Tokugawa shogunate and received excellent awards. He became a prominent figure in the hearts of the Japanese and was highly respected.
Later, he was treated favorably by the local daimyo Matsuura clan in Hirado. He was given land to build a new residence near Hirado, and he was introduced to his retainer, Tagawa Yuhuang's daughter, Tagawa Matsu, to get married. Later, he gave birth to his eldest son, Zheng Sen, and his second son, Nanazakumonsei.
.
Zheng Zhilong went from being a merchant on the ship, to Li Dan's translator, to his right-hand assistant, and then after Li Dan died without a wife or children, he even gave all his business and property in Taiwan to Zheng Zhilong.
During the Tianqi period, Zheng Zhilong recruited tens of thousands of hungry people from Fujian to Taiwan to reclaim wasteland. At that time, he had more than 700 ships. Because the Ming Dynasty banned the sea, Zheng Zhilong was eventually framed as a pirate. Li Dan's former friend, another sea merchant Xu Xinsu, was
He competed with Zheng Zhilong for the interests of Taiwan Strait trade, united with the Dutch to attack Zheng Zhilong, and later contacted the Ming Dynasty to encircle and suppress Zheng Zhilong, but in the end the Ming army was defeated and Xu Xinsu was killed.
In the seventh year of the Apocalypse, a war broke out between the Dutch in Taiwan and Zheng Zhilong. In the end, Zheng Zhilong won.
In the first year of Chongzhen, Zheng Zhilong became so powerful that the Ming Dynasty also suppressed the Ming Dynasty. Zheng Zhilong was recruited as the Five Tigers guerrilla general. He left Taiwan, where he had been operating for many years, and settled in the Fujian Sea. At this time, he already had more than 30,000 soldiers and ships.
Thousands of ships.
Guarding the coast for the imperial court, encircling and suppressing pirates, resisting the Dutch, and rising to the rank of commander-in-chief.
In the sixth year of Chongzhen's reign, Zheng Zhilong defeated the fleet of the Dutch East India Company in the naval battle of Kinmen, Fujian. From then on, he sold foreign goods under the Zheng flag, without any warning. Zheng Zhilong also used sea transportation to transport nobles and show off.
Zheng's trade scope also extended to all parts of the East and Southeast Asia. His financial resources and military strength also increased year by year. He had various people including Han people, Japanese, court people, and even Nanyang people, black Africans, etc., with more than 3,000 people.
The fleet of large and small ships has suddenly become the largest maritime overlord in the East China Sea and the South China Sea.
From the Apocalypse to the Chongzhen Dynasty, Zheng Zhilong never stopped recruiting hungry people from Fujian to settle in Taiwan. Today, there are tens of thousands of mainland immigrants in Taiwan.
He also relied on Japan's seclusion policy and his special relationship with Japan to launch trade with Japan, making even greater profits.
After the fall of Beijing, the two dynasties of Hongguang and Shaotian, Zheng Zhilong relied on his strong strength to gain the trust of both dynasties, and his status increased steadily.
From the main town of Fujian, Nan'anbo, to the governor of Fujian, the Marquis of Nan'an, and now to the current Duke Ping, a bachelor of Dongge University and the governor of the imperial camp.
For Zheng Zhilong, who is only 42 years old, this has undoubtedly reached the pinnacle of his life. This is something he never dared to think about.
The seventeen-year-old boy went to Xiangshan Ao to rely on his uncle to make a living. From then on, he sailed around the oceans with the sea ships, worked hard in foreign countries, met the great businessman Li Dan as his adoptive father, paid homage to the Japanese shogun, made friends with Japanese daimyo, and married a Japanese man.
The woman became his wife, recruited hungry people to go to Taiwan to reclaim wasteland, used money to make friends with the court's dignitaries, and accepted the Ming Dynasty's recruitment to become a guerrilla general.
Step by step, he is just like those fellow Fujianese who dare to fight and fight hard. He has the hard work in his heart and will not waste any opportunity.
But even two or three years ago, Zheng Zhilong would never have imagined that the world situation would change so drastically a few years later, nor would he have imagined that he would one day become such a highly respected minister.
The eldest son became the surnamed Lord and was adopted by the emperor as his adopted son. Now he is the admiral of the imperial camp in Fujian and was given the title of Viscount of Yanping County.
Brothers were granted the title of marquis or uncle, governor or admiral.
After the lively banquet, and after arrangements were made for Li Changxiang to rest, Zheng Zhilong summoned the children of the Zheng family to discuss matters.
"I think the imperial court has bad intentions, comes from bad intentions, and harbors evil intentions!" Zheng Hongkui said bluntly with a gloomy face.
Zhibao said with a smile, "Fourth brother is also talking about Wen. If you have anything to say, just say it. I think the new emperor is quite good to our Zheng family."
Zheng Hongkui passed the Wu Jinshi examination. His original name was Zhi Feng. The name Hongkui was changed when he was taking the Wu Jinshi exam. He was a way for the Zheng Group to seek political status. Zheng Zhilong spent a lot of money for his Wu Juren warriors. Hongguang Chao
At that time, he was granted the title of Commander-in-Chief of Zhenjiang and the seal of General of Zhenhai.
Zheng Zhibao, on the other hand, donated his life to the Imperial Academy, Hongguang Chaoguan, and became the Deputy Chief of the Navy.
Now of the two brothers, one was named the Governor of Fujian and the other was named the Admiral of Fujian. Zheng Zhibao was quite satisfied with this. After all, in addition to being granted the title of Admiral, he was also promoted to the earldom of Chengji.
"Fifth brother, please don't be fooled by the emperor's tricks. What does our Zheng family rely on to be where we are today?" Zheng Hongkui, the fourth child, asked, "In the end, the reason why we are where we are today is because of the official party!"
One official party is the Zheng Group.
We know the name of Yiguan Party. This is a group headed by Yiguan Zheng Zhilong. They are engaged in maritime armed trade, operating flag business, etc.
The armed trade at sea is also half maritime merchants and half pirates. As for the flag business, it actually means collecting protection fees at sea. The ship that pays the protection fee is given a flag. If it flies the flag of the Zheng family, it can be protected by them at sea.
If anyone dares to touch a ship flying the Zheng flag, the Zheng family will be responsible for attacking them.
Today, the Zheng family has also transformed from an early armed maritime merchant to a powerful local warlord. However, since the Chongzhen period, the Zheng family's officers are not actually part of the official system of the imperial court, and are equivalent to a kind of outsourced security.
However, in recent years, with the disintegration of the central court, the Zheng family has accelerated the process of formalization. The navy has become more formal and powerful, and has even begun to form its own land forces. In recent years, it has even begun to establish its own secret intelligence agency, etc.
They also tried to control all levels of government in Fujian.
But now with the strong rise of Zhu Yihai, this emerging one-official party is facing a huge threat from the North Central Committee.
The Zheng family has always been strong by monopolizing the benefits of maritime trade, making money from maritime trade, then raising troops, using troops to maintain maritime trade, and even collecting flag money, and then strengthening its power to seek a higher political status from the court.
Zheng Hongkui had spent time in the Central Plains. Although he had some qualifications as a military scholar, he had also served as the commander-in-chief of Zhenjiang. He was very aware of the twists and turns in the court and no one there was easy to get along with.
Although the military strength of the Yiguan Party has greatly increased in recent years, with thousands of large and small ships, it is still essentially a private army. The main members of the Zheng family each hold a fleet, and there are even some old members of the Yiguan Party.
Everyone also has some troops.
For example, Gan Hui, Shi Daxuan, Hong Xu, etc. in Shibazhili back then.
The Yiguan Dang is a joint armed merchant shipping group surrounding Zheng Yidang. Its roots are still at sea. On the ship, if Zheng Zhilong goes north to become a bachelor and Zheng Hongkui takes over as the governor of Fujian, it will be difficult to give orders immediately.
Group, not to mention that the emperor also sent the eldest son Zheng Sen to lead the eight thousand imperial camp south.
