Daming Military Empire

Chapter 74
Zheng Zhilong, formerly known as Zheng Yiguan, was born in a small fishing village called Shijing in Nan'an, Fujian Province. His father was a local official.The salaries of officials in the Ming Dynasty were pitifully low. If ordinary small officials were not corrupt, their families would not be able to support them. Zheng Yiguan’s father was relatively honest, so when the number of children in the family increased, the family’s livelihood would be difficult. maintained.

When Zheng Yiguan was 17 years old, he had to take his two younger brothers to Macao to join his uncle Huang Cheng, who was engaged in overseas trade, because of the family's difficult livelihood.He is very business-minded and has a good talent for foreign languages. After working with Huang Cheng for three years, he not only helped Huang Cheng manage his business properly, but also learned Dutch and Portuguese.

Huang Cheng saw that he had almost learned, so he sent him to Li Dan, an overseas Chinese in Hirado, Japan.This Li Dan was not simple. He was one of the most powerful maritime merchants at that time, with strong capital and his own fleet.After Zheng Yiguan came to Li Dan's school, he became more diligent, and he "served as his father" to Li Dan. Li Dan saw that he was capable and reliable, so he adopted him as a foster son and handed over part of the business to him.

Since then, Zheng Yiguan has made great achievements and gradually became the leader of the local overseas Chinese. He also received preferential treatment from the Tokugawa shogunate and became one of the prominent figures in Japan at that time.

There is a saying: Opportunities are always reserved for those who are prepared. Since Zheng Yiguan can speak Dutch and Portuguese, Li Dan simply handed over all the transactions with the Dutch to him. man this line.

At that time, the Dutch were competing with the Portuguese and the Spaniards for maritime supremacy. In order to monopolize the trade with Japan, the Dutch even trained Zheng Yiguan to be a pirate, specializing in robbing the cargo ships sent by the Portuguese and Spaniards from the southeast coast to Japan.

From then on, Zheng Yiguan began a life of being both a merchant and a thief. In the eyes of the Japanese and the Dutch, he was a well-known big businessman with a huge business and a fortune; in the eyes of the Portuguese and Spaniards, he was a notorious A notorious pirate who burns, kills, loots, and commits all kinds of crimes.

Zheng Yiguan, a businessman and a thief, spent two years at sea. After two years, he gradually got rid of the control of the Dutch and started to stand on his own. After Li Dan passed away, he inherited most of Li Dan's inheritance and gradually became the largest maritime merchant on the southeast coast. and pirates.

Later, he recruited Zheng Xing, Zheng Ming, Zheng Cai, Yang Geng, Chen Hui and other generals from the mainland, collectively called "Eighteen Zhi". He also changed his name to Zheng Zhilong instead of Zheng Yiguan.

In the last year of the Apocalypse, a severe drought occurred in southern Fujian. Zheng Zhilong took the opportunity to attack the coastal areas of Fujian and recruited the victims to go to Taiwan to open up wasteland and farm land. The hungry and jobless people along the coast competed to seek refuge, and there were tens of thousands of people at every turn. Zheng Zhilong's power began to expand rapidly, and the number of people under his rule reached hundreds of thousands. , The army has grown to more than [-]!

At that time, the Ming Dynasty could be described as internal and external troubles. The peasant uprising in the northwest and the post-gold iron cavalry in the northeast caused the entire Ming Dynasty to be precarious.

In July of the first year of Chongzheng, Zheng Zhilong was recruited by Fujian governor Xiong Wencan, led his troops to the Ming Dynasty, and served as the "Five Tigers Guerrilla General".

In February of the third year of Chongzheng, Zheng Zhilong basically wiped out the pirates and Japanese pirates along the coast of Fujian, and was promoted to the Fujian General Army because of his meritorious service.
In June of the same year, he brought his beloved son Zheng Sen back to his hometown in Fujian from Hirado, Japan, hired a scholar with a background in scientific research, and gave him enlightenment education.

Originally, it was agreed that he would come back one month before the Chinese New Year, but it seemed that the Chinese New Year was almost here. Not only did his beloved son Zheng Sen not come back, but he also sent someone to bring back a letter from his family, saying: Your Majesty invites you to come to Nanjing for a gathering!
The emperor is currently in Nanjing. There is no doubt about it. Fujian also belongs to the three provinces in the south of the Yangtze River. The vigorous arrest operation lasted for nearly a month. Even the common people knew that the emperor was arresting the rebels.Zheng Zhilong is not a commoner. Not only does he know that the emperor is arresting rebels, he also knows that the emperor is desperately ransacking his home, and he even knows that the emperor is clearing out the opposition forces of the Donglin Party.

To go or not to go?After all, I was born as a pirate, and I have more than [-] soldiers. If the emperor turns his face, it will be like a meat bun beating a dog, and there will be no return!It might be difficult for other people to make a choice, or even dare not go at all, but Zheng Zhilong only considered the time for a cup of tea and decided: go.

Zheng Zhilong is a speculator by nature, and has a unique vision for judging the situation. Once he thinks it is profitable, he will place a bet without hesitation.Like in the Southern Ming Dynasty, he could tell at a glance that the Ming Dynasty was exhausted, so he chose to surrender to the Qing Dynasty without hesitation.As a result, the Qing Dynasty won, and the Ming Dynasty also fell, but the Qing Dynasty looked down on the Han people at all, not to mention that he was a pirate, so instead of being reused because of his decisive surrender, he took the lives of the whole family.

Of course, it cannot be blamed for his misjudgment. In front of untrustworthy people, no matter how you judge, you will not get the correct answer.

So why did he decisively throw himself into the arms of Emperor Chongzheng this time?The reason why he was so decisive was because he received the news that the little emperor confiscated all the assets of the Jiangnan wealthy family, and he also wiped out all the forces opposing him, such as the Donglin Party!

Why was the Ming Dynasty dying?In the final analysis, it is serious internal friction and lack of funds.

Now that the Donglin Party, which likes internal strife the most, has been cleaned up, it can be said that the source of internal friction has been eliminated. In addition, the confiscation of so many assets of the Jiangnan aristocratic family, the imperial court has money, and these two key problems have been solved. There is hope.

This is the time when the little emperor needs support the most, and now taking refuge in the past is like sending charcoal in a timely manner; when he straightens everything out and Daming gradually enters the right track, even if he, a pirate, takes the initiative to run over to lick other people's toes, he will be punished. Kick it away!

The opportunity must not be missed, once Zheng Zhilong decides what to do, he will do it without hesitation, so, regardless of the opposition of all his brothers, he rushed to Nanjing City with a thousand guards.

Zheng Zhilong was lucky this time. Zhu Cijiong was not the kind of man who would kill the donkey in the Qing Dynasty. He just wanted to use Zheng Zhilong's power in the sea to compete with the European powers for trade rights.So Zhu Cijiong will not kill Zheng Zhilong, but will also give him a very generous treatment, making him willing to contribute to Daming.

After Zheng Zhilong arrived in Nanjing, Zhu Cijiong immediately met him at the temporary residence of the Nanjing Forbidden City. When he saw his son following Zhu Cijiong like a follower, he was not angry, but secretly glad that he had made the right bet.

Just kidding, is it so easy to be the emperor's follower?Ordinary people want to be the emperor's younger brother, that's just nonsense, who is the emperor, does he need a younger brother?It is a great fortune that the emperor treats you as a younger brother!

(End of this chapter)