Chapter 411 Digging the corner of the Zheng family
Zheng Zhilong and Yan also have a daughter who is of marriageable age.
Speaking of the Yan family, there is something to say. She was the daughter of Yan Siqi, the founder of Taiwan. The pirate king at that time had planned an uprising in Japan. After the failure, he took Zheng Zhilong and others to Taiwan. As a result, he died of illness soon.
Later, Zheng Zhilong married his daughter, inherited the alliance, and finally re-established the Eighteen Zhi Maritime Alliance headed by him.
Guo Jinzhong said that these two candidates were basically the ones to accept the Zheng family's daughters into the palace.
One was born to the Tagawa family in Japan. She became a Catholic since she was a child and later lived in the Jesuit Catholic Church in Macau. She was even named Pascal. She should be a completely Westernized woman.
The other was born to the daughter of pirate king Yan Siqi. Her uncle Yan Keying was also an important leader of Zheng Zhilong's official party. He owned a fleet and was equivalent to a partner in Zheng's family.
If he hadn't been too young when his father died, it wouldn't have been Zheng Yiguan's turn to be the leader of the alliance.
The Yan family still has considerable influence in Taiwan and within the Yiguan Party.
This time when Zheng Zhilong entered the court, Yan Keying followed him. He was still the commander-in-chief of the eight thousand people. He had the rank of deputy general awarded by the court.
Although Zhu Yihai felt that political marriage was a bit bad, after studying it carefully, he felt that if he still wanted to appease the Zheng family, then marriage seemed to be a good choice.
And Yan Keying's identity made him feel that choosing the Yan family was a good choice, but then thinking about it again, Pascal's Jesuit connections were not bad either.
After thinking about it, it seems that Zheng Zhilong's two daughters are good.
In the end, Zhu Yihai couldn't help but sigh. He didn't expect that his majestic and holy emperor would now rely on nepotism to consolidate his power.
But this is the most time-saving and labor-saving method and the most effective.
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Zhenjiang.
Zheng's fleet anchored at Zhenjiang Port.
On a Dutch three-masted double-decker Galen warship, it was the Zheng flag.
Ping Guogong, Grand Bachelor of Dongge, Shaobao and Taibao of the Crown Prince, was walking in the Prime Minister's Office. Zheng Zhilong, the governor of the Royal Camp, stood on the deck, looking at the deserted dock, looking a little silent.
The ship under his feet was not a traditional Chinese ship, but a Western Galenic warship, also known as a sailing warship.
Zheng Zhilong has defeated dozens of sailing warships of this kind over the years, but he still admires this kind of warship in his heart, especially in the open ocean, it has great advantages over Chinese ships.
Just say that the Anping under his feet has double-layered forts on the upper and lower sides, and is densely packed with thirty-six cannons. Among European navies, it can only be regarded as having average firepower.
Its three-masted ship has a length of 56.6, a width of 10.5 meters, a draft of 5.1 meters, a crew of 341 sailors, and a displacement of 600 tons.
Overall, this ship is actually only a middle- and lower-class warship in the Dutch Navy.
But in the South China Sea, its firepower and protection are still high-end warships. At least the Zheng Navy, which dominates the East Asian waters, has few warships that can directly match it.
He only managed to get one such boat.
I thought that at Zhenjiang Pier, I would be able to gain a lot of prestige in front of the court officials and people who greeted me.
But who knew that the scene would be so deserted.
Zhenjiang was very indifferent to his arrival. Previously, the navy sent a guerrilla with three boats to greet him, and then led them to this military port. It was not the big port of Zhenjiang, but another small port.
"Don't you know that we are anchored here and the imperial court will greet us at the Dagang?"
Zheng Zhilong looked at the not-so-small naval fleet behind him, and then at the naval port, especially the coastal defense forts, even the floating city, and some naval warships not far upstream and downstream.
I have gained something in my heart.
Yan Keying came forward, "Brother?"
"Don't worry, let the brothers lower the sails and anchor. Let's take a rest first." Zheng Zhilong said thoughtfully.
This time traveling thousands of miles north, the Zheng family not only brought eight thousand land and sea troops, but also brought many cannons, gunpowder, and a large amount of money and food, not to mention the Zheng family's power in Fujian. The imperial court should not have this attitude.
No matter what, it should be greeted by a huge crowd of people with loud gongs and drums and red flags waving, and at least a cabinet bachelor should be the one to take the lead in welcoming him.
But now that it's so deserted, something's not right.
"Brother, how about I go ashore first to find out something?"
Several officers were also dissatisfied, "Are we so hot-tempered and cold-blooded?"
"Don't be so presumptuous!" Zheng Zhilong shouted, "This is not Fujian. From now on, everyone should be more careful when speaking and don't open your mouth."
"Brother is so talkative. Why should we suffer this injustice? Previously, the Qing government promised to be crowned king and governor of three provinces. We rejected the Qing government and went north like this, but ended up treating us like this. Why?"
"You bastard, get out of here." Zheng Zhilong shouted back at the subordinate and frowned.
"Keying, you go ashore first, take my note and go to Zhenjiang to visit the officials in the city and check out the situation."
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It took half a day after the Zheng family's fleet arrived at the port before any officials came over.
But he was just a member of the Ministry of War, and he came here to set up a temporary camp for the Zheng family's troops.
It wasn't until the next day that another official came, this time it was an official from the Ministry of Revenue, bringing some food and grass to Zheng Jun.
Zheng Zhilong felt heavy in his chest, and after meeting with two young green-robed officials, he simply claimed that he was ill.
Fortunately, Zheng Zhilong did not dare to act recklessly. Even if he stayed on the Anping flagship and pretended to be sick, he did not forget to order the officers to control the soldiers and forbid them to leave the port, let alone act recklessly.
The situation was unclear and he did not dare to move, so he had to wait for Yan Keying's report.
However, it was said that Yan Keying went ashore and entered Zhenjiang City. After presenting Zheng Zhilong's name tag, he was met by Yan Yingyuan, the sub-inspector of Ning Town and military personnel.
Zhu Yihai made an unusual use of him. Later, he developed local regiment training in Changzhou, harassed the Jiangnan Tatars, raised food and wages for the court, etc. He showed rare talents. Moreover, because he was good at riding and shooting, he also accumulated more than a dozen Tatars under one bow.
He was granted the title of patrol by the emperor.
After some changes in the official system, today's branch patrols are known as small governors, but they have much greater levels and powers than the previous Taoists.
This Yan Fen visited Yan Keying, but he didn't pay much attention to Zheng Zhilong's name sticker.
After a conversation, it was directly told that the imperial court was responsible for the arrangements for Zheng Zhilong after he entered the court, but the imperial court had already made arrangements for the eight thousand troops and horses that Zheng brought.
Except for Zheng Zhilong who left a team of fifty personal soldiers, the rest of the troops will be temporarily taken over by his patrol.
"Specific?" Yan Keying's expression was not very good. She did not expect such a result. Although she had thought when she came, these soldiers and horses might be recruited by the imperial court like the navy led by Zheng Sen and Zheng Cai.
But they also felt that the court should give Zheng Zhilong some face.
I didn't expect it to be so direct.
"Zhenjiang is an important military town. There were already many troops stationed here. Now it is also a hub for industry, commerce, trade and transportation. There is no way to station so many soldiers and horses. Therefore, we must first disperse the water and land battalions and transfer them to other places to station for food, and then
The next step is to wait for the court’s continued arrangements.”
Although Yan Yingyuan didn't finish what he said, Yan Keying heard it, and the next step was to reorganize into the imperial camp.
In Zhenjiang, he had a hearty meal of two simple dishes and one soup, which made Yan Keying suspect that the imperial court did not pay any attention to the Zheng family in Fujian.
I was getting angry and wanted to go back to the dock to report, but Yan Yingyuan brought someone in.
"This is the instructor of Qian Niu Guard, and also the sword-carrying guard in front of the emperor, Guard Fu Shanfu."
Master Fu Qing was dressed in the uniform of an imperial guard and carried a Thousand Ox Sword at his waist. However, he also had a large sword on his back.
"According to His Majesty's order, I have come here to convey the order to Vice General Yan. Please accept the order."
Yan Keying was a little dazed. It took her a while to regain her senses, and she was urged to kneel down to receive the order.
According to the emperor's decree, Yan Keying was appointed as the chief military officer of Shenwu Town.
"Chief Soldier of Shenwu Town?"
Fu Qingzhu told Yan Keying that the emperor had just issued a decree that the eight thousand land and sea troops from Fujian would be given the imperial camp's designation of Shenwu Town, and he would be the new chief military officer.
When Yan Keying was still a little confused, Master Fu Qing asked him to follow him to Beijing to express his gratitude.
"I'll go back to the dock to meet Duke Ping first."
"Your Majesty is still waiting to see General Yan, let's go." Master Fu Qing took Yan Keying out of the city to Nanjing without saying a word.
He rode all the way to Nanjing, was taken to the palace, and handed over to the chamberlain. A eunuch took him to bathe and change clothes, and then led him to Wuying Palace.
Yan Keying was a little confused along the way.
After the eunuchs rolled their names outside the door, a voice came from the palace.
"Enter!"
The voice was calm and youthful.
Yan Keying followed the eunuch into the palace. He looked around secretly and happened to see a smiling face.
"General Yan is much taller and more powerful than I thought."
"Come, please sit down."
At this time, Yan Keying realized that this was the Emperor of Heaven, so he quickly knelt down and worshiped.
"No gift."
"I have heard before that the Yiguan Dang is invincible in the Southeast Sea. It has fought countless victorious battles and all kinds of red-haired men have been defeated by its subordinates. I have also heard that General Yan is also a strong general in the Southeast. He has taken the lead countless times, jumping off ships and rushing to kill.
It’s amazing. When I saw it today, it turned out to be very powerful!”
Yan Keying was a little embarrassed to be praised. Although these people with pirate backgrounds would usually say that the princes and generals were so kind and did not look down on the emperor, but he really stood in this imperial palace.
When looking at the emperor in dragon robe, I still couldn't help but feel intimidated.
"I am just a rough man. He only knows how to fight and kill. He is uneducated. How can he dare to taint the ears of a saint with his cheap name?"
"Hahaha, what you say is very literate. I like it. Come and draw up a decree. I will give you the title of General Yan."
"Draft a decree to confer the title of Earl of Fuqing to Yan Keying, the chief military officer of Shenwu Town, as well as a set of imperial armor and a python robe!"
Yan Keying was completely stunned. Is this a pie in the world?
He had just entered the court and had done nothing. Now he was granted the title of Chief Military Officer and the title of Earl of Fuqing?
What do you mean?
He is a monk named Zhang Er, and he is totally confused!