"Brother, I can thank you and accept the decree of the imperial court, but I can find excuses not to go north. With the current power of my Zheng family, what can the imperial court do?"
Zheng Hongkui is younger and more ambitious.
Nowadays, the world is in chaos, and it is still unclear who will win. The Ming and Qing Dynasties are fighting in the Central Plains. There is also the Daxi Emperor Zhang Xianzhong in Sichuan, and the chieftain Sha Dingzhou in Yunnan has rebelled. The Duke of Guizhou he killed has fled everywhere.
The Dutch were able to occupy the most fertile area in Taiwan with only two thousand soldiers. The number of Spanish colonists in Luzon was not large, but there were also tens of thousands of Chinese.
The Zheng family's maritime strength is definitely better than that of the Dutch in the South China Sea. The Spaniards are only stronger than the Spanish. They dare to occupy Macau, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Luzon with hundreds or thousands of people. So the Zheng family now wants money and ships.
If you have ships, you need troops, so why not be bolder and bigger?
Do princes and generals like Xiang Ning have the guts?
Zhu Yihai, a vassal king who had lost his family and lost his family, dared to raise a flag and raise an army, first to be the governor of the country and then to be the emperor. Isn't Zheng's capital richer than Zhu Yihai's?
Taking advantage of the current chaos in the Central Plains, what Zheng has to do is to tighten control of Fujian and seize Taiwan. In this way, both sides of the Taiwan Strait can advance, attack, retreat and defend.
First divide Fujian and Fujian, and then Guangdong and Guangxi.
He will cause chaos in the Central Plains, and take advantage of this opportunity to capture the three provinces first. By then, the Five Ridges Pass will be blocked, and the Northern Army will not be able to go south. They can develop with peace of mind, engage in trade, and train soldiers and horses, and they will be completely invincible.
Whether it is to take advantage of the loss of both sides in the Central Plains and send troops to the Northern Expedition to seize the Central Plains, or to seal the border and defend Lingnan and turn around to fight for Luzon, or even to recover Annan and establish a coastal Zheng Kingdom in the future, this can all be done hard.
"We have such strength, why should we give up this foundation to others?"
"If you lose your deer, the whole world will chase it away!"
Zheng Zhilong didn't say anything. He was silent for a while. He took out a silver box from his body as usual and opened it. Inside was tobacco and paper. He skillfully picked up a handful of tobacco, put it on the paper and started to roll it up. Soon,
A cigarette is finished.
He held it in his hand and thought about it carefully for a while.
Finally put it in your mouth and light it on fire.
Taking a puff of cigarette, Zheng Zhilong shook his head.
"I also read in my spare time, especially history. I often listen to storytelling and watch plays. Since the unification of Emperor Qin, there have been many dynasties and many founding emperors. There are princes, generals, and beggars.
Monks, but I have never heard of any of these bandits or merchants becoming emperors."
Zheng Hongkui said anxiously, "Brother is wrong."
"Let's just talk about the emperors of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms in the late Tang Dynasty. Emperor Zhu Wen of the Later Liang Dynasty first worked as a servant for the landlord's family to herd pigs, and later joined Huang Chao's army as a thief. Didn't he also replace the Liang Emperor of the Tang Dynasty?
Besides, Huang Chao was originally a failed scholar, but later he sold smuggled salt, conquered the two capitals, and established the State of Qi.
"The former Emperor of Shu, Wang Jian, was a rogue when he was young. He killed cattle, stole donkeys, and sold private salt. He was called a thief and a bastard by the locals. He later became an emperor.
"Yang Xingmi of Yang Wu was born as a farmer. He joined the rebels and failed in the rebellion. He was later recruited as a soldier. He eventually separated Jianghuai and established the Wu Kingdom and became the emperor."
"Wang Shenzhi, the three brothers who founded our country in Fujian, also joined the peasant army in the late Tang Dynasty, and finally entered Fujian, established the country of Fujian, and became emperors."
"Ma Yin, the emperor of Southern Chu, was originally just a carpenter."
"Emperor Gao Jixing of Nanping Kingdom was just a domestic slave of Zhu Wen's adopted son Zhu Yourang in his early years. Later, he made many military exploits, guarded Jingnan, and founded the country and proclaimed himself emperor."
Zheng Hongkui cited multiple examples in succession, all of which were people of low status.
"Let's not talk about the distant ones, let's talk about the nearby ones. The Dashun Emperor Li Zicheng was born as a postman. The Daxi Emperor Zhang Xianzhong was a hawker of red dates. He later became a policeman, then joined the border army, and finally became a thief."
"Brother, times make heroes. How can an emperor be born? Liu Bang, the great ancestor of the Han Dynasty, was only the head of a pavilion. Liu Yu, the Emperor Wu of the Song Dynasty, had a poor family who made a living by collecting firewood, fishing, and selling straw sandals."
When Zheng Hongkui was in the two capitals, he saw through the corruption and ugliness of the Ming Dynasty.
In contrast, the Zheng family's current conditions are very good and their financial resources are strong. The annual income from maritime trade and flags far exceeds the Ming Dynasty's treasury, and even exceeds it by much.
Zhu Yihai's Northern Expedition made him famous, but how many soldiers did he have?
And basically they are all new recruits.
What Zhu Yihai can do, why can't they?
The Zheng family's military strength is definitely still superior to Zhu Yihai's.
So why commit yourself to obey Zhu Yihai?
But Zheng Zhilong still shook his head.
Zheng Hongkui was extremely disappointed. He couldn't help but think of the fourth year of Tianqi. When they were in Japan, they still regarded Yan Siqi as their leader. At that time, everyone plotted to raise troops to overthrow the Japanese shogunate, establish a country there, and respect Ming as the leader.
At that time, twenty-eight merchants and pirates swore an oath. Unfortunately, things were leaked before the uprising, and they were forced to flee hastily. They later went to Taiwan. They planned to use Taiwan as their base and sent people to Zhangquan to recruit immigrants. They used the remaining thirteen articles to
While the ship carried out trade and plunder, it also established an immigration camp on the island and recruited more than 3,000 immigrants.
But in the fifth year of Tianqi, Yan Siqi, who was only 37 years old, fell ill and died. Zheng Zhilong married Yan Siqi's daughter, inherited the legacy, and was promoted as the new leader of the alliance.
After becoming the leader of the alliance, Zheng Zhilong summoned eighteen famous merchant pirates to form a blood alliance and swore brothers. They were called Eighteen Zhi, and everyone had Zhi in their name.
Within two years after the establishment of Shibazhi, Xu Xinsu, the Fujian and Zhejiang naval forces and the comprador martial merchant Zhangzhou gang led by Yu Zigao, the naval admiral of the Ming Dynasty, was eliminated.
But soon after, facing the imperial court's recruitment, the Eighteen Zhizhi finally split. Zheng Zhilong led some of his brothers to join the Ming Dynasty and became an official party, while others established their own branches, such as Liu Xiang, Li Kuiqi, He Binguo and others.
Wait a minute.
Later, other people were eliminated one after another by the official party.
When they were in Taiwan, Shibazhi was very powerful and dominated the sea.
In particular, they easily defeated the Fujian and Zhejiang Navy of the Ming Dynasty and Xu Xinsu, the Zhangzhou gang's sea merchant. It can be said that after that battle, they had become the maritime overlord.
In terms of the next direction of development, many people in Shibazhi believe that Taiwan should be the foundation. Taking advantage of the defeat of the Ming Dynasty Navy, they can send troops to seize Jinxia and other places along the coast of Fujian and establish their own banner, just like they did with Yan Siqi in Japan.
They have the same plan, to build a kingdom that truly belongs to them.
However, Zheng Zhilong, the leader of the alliance, disagreed. He was determined to use fighting to promote peace and war. He wanted the Ming Dynasty to recruit him. The reason was that they were just a group of maritime merchants and could not defeat the Ming Dynasty.
In the end, Shibazhi couldn't reach an agreement and split.
If the Eighteen Zhizhi were not strong back then, but many years later, the current Yiguan Party's strength has far exceeded that of those years. They only had a few thousand immigrants in Taiwan back then, and they didn't have many ships.
But now there are thousands of large and small ships, almost controlling the entire Fujian, and even earning tens of millions of taels of silver a year, and the army is strong.
With such strength, the Central Plains is fighting in a melee, and the Ming Dynasty has collapsed, so why are you still hesitating?
But Zheng Zhilong still chickened out and hesitated.
"Brother!"
Zheng Zhilong flicked the ashes from his cigarette and said slowly, "To become a great businessman, you must have destiny."
"Before, I thought that Chuang King Li Zicheng had a destiny and could sit in Beijing and follow the Jurchens of Jianzhou to enter the pass and sweep across the Central Plains. I also thought that aliens would rule the Central Plains.
But now it seems that the Ming Dynasty has not exhausted its energy, the Zhu family still has the kingly energy, and King Lu is the destined emperor. Look at the aura that swallows the anger like a tiger, even Ming Taizu was not so fierce back then!"
"King Lu raised his arms in Taizhou, and a crowd gathered. He led the Sixth Division in the Northern Expedition, and was invincible. Everywhere he went, everyone supported him. Why? Because the Zhu family of the Ming Dynasty for more than 280 years, the hearts of the people in the world
Still.”
Although Zheng Zhilong is only in his early forties, he has been wandering around the world since he was seventeen, traveling all over the world, inheriting the family business of Li Dan and Yan Siqi, and relying on his own hard work to get where he is today. But it is not all smooth sailing, every step
They all walked very hard.
Tianqinian's plan in Japan failed and he was forced to flee to Taiwan in a hurry.
The split of the Eighteen Zhizhi and the encirclement and suppression by the imperial court once almost made him irrecoverable.
There are so many heroes in the southeast sea, but who are there now?
Zheng Zhilong can be ruthless and dare to risk his life at critical moments, but he will not be hasty.
He's not a red-eyed gambler.
At that time, Liu Xiang and other brothers of Shibazhi urged him to establish his own banner and even establish a country and become king, but he refused.
Now his brother Hongkui persuaded him to separate and stand on his own. After much deliberation, Zheng Zhilong shook his head and refused.
If Zhu Yihai had not been born, perhaps under the current situation he would have been able to separate himself and stand on his own. Of course, this was just a possibility. Without Zhu Yihai, the Qing Dynasty might have stabilized Jiangnan, and Zheng Zhilong would most likely have requested recruitment through Hong Chengchou and the Qing army.
Taking a step forward and becoming your own king is very tempting, but the risk is even greater.
Zheng Zhilong is very cautious.
"It's good to be like this now. I went north to enter the DPRK and successfully moved south. Hongkui and Zhibao, you stay behind, control Fujian, and then successfully go to Taiwan."
"We can attack when we advance, and we can defend when we retreat, leaving room for gain."
Zheng Hongkui could only sigh helplessly, "Brother, in this kind of thing, if you don't advance, you will retreat. How can there be any strategy that can advance, attack, retreat and defend?"
"Didn't you see that not only did Success go south, but there were also eight thousand soldiers from the royal camp? Those eight thousand people were not Success's servants, they were the emperor's personal soldiers from the imperial camp. How many deputy admirals and general soldiers were there?
, the governor of the army, deputy generals, staff generals, etc., do they listen to the successful one or do they listen more to the emperor?"
"Furthermore, brother, don't you understand that the emperor established a new governor of Taiwan and included Zhangquan and Chaozhou? What is the purpose of this?"
"He Tengjiao, Ding Kuichu, even Qu Shichu, and Zhang Mingyang are all going to go through Fujian to attack Taiwan. It's such an obvious plan to attack Guo through false routes, can't big brother not see it?"
"The soldiers came in along the way, and the eldest brother left again. At that time, it was not us who had the final say in Fujian."
"It's easy to invite God but hard to send Him away."
How could Zheng Zhilong fail to see this, but he could not refuse the emperor's arrangements.
If he dared to blatantly refuse the entry of these soldiers and horses, it would really be regarded as treason. When the war broke out, there would be no room for change. He believed that Zhu Yihai dared to send troops to conquer. Now Zhongyong, Zhongwu, Zhongyi and others in Hunan and Guangxi
Aren't these groups of people being surrounded and suppressed by Zhu Yihai's troops, and even beaten to the point of retreating and fleeing everywhere, and it seems that they are already in danger?
"His Majesty the Emperor treated me, Zheng, very kindly. Let this be settled. I will take five thousand troops north to enter the court, while Hongkui and Zhibao will stay in Fujian.
Since the imperial court wants to attack Taiwan, let them do it. The Dutch are not that easy to fight. Even though the generals only have 2,000 troops, even if our Zheng family goes all out to attack, we may not be able to win much.
Come and share."
Zheng Hongkui was stunned for a moment.
Did the elder brother have other plans and expected that the imperial court's attack on Taiwan would fail?
If so, then maybe this is not a bad thing, but maybe a good thing?
