I'm a pirate at the end of Ming Dynasty

On the small table at home, Zheng Zhipeng personally poured a small cup of wine for Zheng Chenggong as a farewell. Zheng Chenggong happily drank it all in one gulp, and then stuck out his tongue in a cute way, which was quite spicy.

Zheng Zhipeng poured another glass for Mr. Tagawa, but he didn't appreciate it at all and poured it down casually. Zheng Zhipeng was a little embarrassed. Zheng Chenggong pulled Mr. Tagawa's sleeve and said, "Mom, don't be angry with Fourth Uncle. This Everything is Sen'er's own opinion, if you want to be angry, just be angry with Sen'er."

Mr. Tagawa snorted coldly and said nothing.

"Okay Sen'er, it's okay. My sister-in-law is just angry for a while. You and your mother must take good care of yourselves when you go to Macau. No matter what the request is, just tell the Portuguese people directly. Write me a letter every week and tell me Are you okay? If anything happens to you, I swear I will destroy Portugal in my lifetime."

"Well, don't worry, Fourth Uncle, Sen'er is a grown-up boy and a man. He will definitely protect his mother if something happens."

Zheng Zhipeng could only touch his head sadly: "Sen'er is so good."

After thinking for a while, he added: "Sen'er is in Macau. Those Portuguese people will not refuse your request easily. Although the Portuguese shipbuilding technology was also taken from our Ming Dynasty, it is now slightly ahead of us. You When you arrive in Macau, don't focus on reading the Four Books and Five Classics. You still need to learn the Portuguese's shipbuilding, navigation, star-finding, and firearms skills. If you have the opportunity, try to take a look at the Portuguese nautical charts and take note of them. Remember, those red-haired people in the Netherlands achieved what they are today by stealing their charts. Maybe our Zheng family will also be able to use them in the future."

"Well, don't worry, Fourth Uncle, I know."

Tagawa angrily stirred his small soup bowl with a spoon, making a clinking sound.

In fact, it is also a kind of helplessness. Zheng Zhipeng understands the Tagawa family quite well. Her husband is a pirate. He knows very well that this business is not easy. How many kings have been born on the sea for hundreds of years, and how many of them can die a good death?Zheng Zhilong's journey to where he is today was a result of fighting through blood and fire. If he had been a little bit unlucky, his bones would have been cold.

It was precisely because of this that she tried her best not to let Zheng Chenggong go back to this old path. Whether he should study or not, whether he should take the imperial examination or not, was not the essence of the problem. Even if Zheng Chenggong had to rest in the gold and silver he earned, he would be a disciple for the rest of his life. , I’m afraid the Tagawa family would be happy.

Unfortunately, dragon begets dragon and phoenix begets phoenix.

The 11-year-old Zheng Chenggong has actually felt a little bit about all this, and he has recently started to compete with her in various ways. In the end, he even ran to Macau as a hostage.

You can't help your mother when you are older~

A few days later, Zheng Zhipeng solemnly handed over Zheng Chenggong and the Tagawa family to the Portuguese. The Portuguese also solemnly promised Zheng Zhipeng to ensure the absolute safety of the Zheng family masters and promised that within three days, the Portuguese would send four A large Galenic ship and 26 medium-sized centipede ships assisted the Zheng family in the battle.This is already very sincere. If all this wealth is wiped out, the Portuguese can get out of here.

But when the fleet was ready, Zheng Zhipeng told them to wait and not go south for the time being.

Because Li Gang had been here these two days, Zheng Zhipeng had some new ideas after talking.

First, he wrote a letter to Zheng Zhiyan, using the excuse of food shortage in the city to form a [-]-strong army based on Yi Cong and the black guards, under his command, with Yan Yingyuan as his deputy.Then he asked Zhang Bingzhen to write a letter to the court, offering to share the country's worries and offering to send volunteers south to help the court wipe out the rebels in Jiulian Mountain.

Jiulian Mountain is geographically located at the border between Fujian and Zhejiang. Although it is not close to Ningbo, it is at least not far away. It is very suitable to use this excuse to move troops to Fujian. As for when the troops will return after entering Fujian, That's not so easy to manage.

Of course, sending this small number of troops to Fujian may not be of much help. After all, two legs cannot go into the sea. Zheng Zhipeng's real concern now is to go north.After talking to Eunuch Yang that day, he became interested in this matter.

If you want to borrow the Dengzhou Navy, you must at least help the court solve the siege of Jinzhou first. But is the siege of Jinzhou so easy to solve?Even Sun Chengzong can't help it. Besides being rich, what else does the Zheng family have to do with this matter?

However, Li Gang's words suddenly gave Zheng Zhipeng a bit of enlightenment.

"If Marshal Mao was still here, Huang Taiji wouldn't dare to go to war in such a big way."

Just one word, for Zheng Zhipeng, it was like giving timely help. Suddenly a lot of messy ideas popped up in his head, and it was not even just limited to borrowing the Dengzhou Navy.

It was precisely for this reason that Zheng Zhipeng chose to use the Portuguese ship to go north instead of south. After all, Zheng Zhilong would not be able to lose for a while, and if this could be done, it would not only be as simple as seizing the Treasure Island Strait.

"Li Gang, how much do you know about what is going on in the Pidao area now? Please tell me clearly."

"Alas... after Mao Shuai died, Pidao became a mess. They were killing each other. You disobeyed me and I disobeyed you. In just one year, there were fourteen mutinies. To be honest, Pidao is now I dare not say no matter what, the imperial court no longer loves us, and the waterway is even more chaotic. Brothers plunder people's property every day in order to make a living. The prestige and reputation established by Mao Shuai have been lost forever. All are gone, but what can we do otherwise? The soldiers also need to eat! Otherwise, how could Kong Youde and the others surrender to the Manchus and become traitors?"

"So, Pi Dao is very poor now? Can I understand that the reason why Pi Dao is in constant trouble is also because of poverty?"

"Not entirely, but if the problem of poverty is solved, other problems will be much easier to solve."

"Li Gang, how much money do you think it will cost to solve the previous situation in Pidao? Our family has been spending money like water recently, and the silver we can still get out is less than 400 million taels. With my family's reputation, we should be able to get it from our own family." Is it enough to transfer another 200 million from the bank?"

"Fourth Master wants to... make a desperate move? This... then you are not afraid..."

"Mao Shuai has the foundation to stay. If he can continue, it will be worth the risk. Isn't it just money? I have plenty of it."

"I admire Fourth Master's courage."