Eighth year of Chongzhen

Chapter 582 Bewitching and Calculating

Zou Weilian made a comprehensive analysis of the issues facing the Zheng family at present, and spoke out some issues that should have been avoided without hesitation. This sincere attitude alone was enough to move the brothers of the Zheng family.

"Butang's love for my Zheng family is beyond words, and Fei Huang is very grateful! What Butang said just now, my brother and I have also discussed it, but they have never been willing to let go of the vested interests in their hands. What I am thinking now is ashamed!

It is really rare among the emperors of all dynasties that the Holy Majesty treats my Zheng family so favorably. Your father treats me sincerely. If I, Zheng Zhilong, do not uphold the holy will, then I am really not a son of man!

Regardless of whether it is Bo Jinghai or Marquis Jinghai, I, Zheng Zhilong, are all ministers of the Tian Family and the Ming Dynasty; whether it is the Navy or the Navy, all should be based on the orders of the Holy Majesty and the court. Fei Huang should bear this in mind and pass it on With future generations and descendants, those who violate it in the future will be punished! "

Zheng Zhilong stood up and bowed to Zou Weilian, and then swore to the sky that he fully accepted the conditions proposed by Zhu Youjian for opening the sea. Zou Weilian nodded frequently with a happy face, and when he was about to say a few words of praise, Zheng Zhibao suddenly made a comparison. practical problems.

"Brother, it's true that our Zheng family should follow the holy will, but after the imperial court took over the port, many leaders who were able to share the money from the Zheng family's banner suddenly lost a lot of money, so it is inevitable that they will have other ideas. How will we deal with it then?"

Although Zheng Zhibao didn't speak clearly, both Zou Weilian and Zheng Zhilong understood his meaning in an instant.

Zheng Zhilong is nominally at the helm of the 10,000+ pirates on the southeast coast, but he has never integrated this interest group into a monolithic one.

In fact, among the 10,000+ people, there are quite a few leaders, big and small, each with their own powers, and many of them usually do their own thing, and they only respect the Zheng family on the surface. Among them is the Lin who Zheng Zhibao once mentioned. Three, Feng Gouzi and others.

Of the 1000 taels of protection fee that the Zheng family collects from each merchant ship every year, Zheng Zhilong brothers can get [-]%, and the rest is taken away by other important leaders to feed their subordinates and buy ship weapons. Expand your strength.

If the imperial court took over the taxation rights of the ports and wharfs along the coast, it would mean that the huge amount of wealth that these people picked up for nothing every year would be robbed, and many pirates would lose their source of income at once. This is simply unacceptable to many people. of.

Not only does the Zheng family only benefit from the fee for protecting the flag every year, the Zheng Zhilong brothers also monopolize all the commodity trade between countries and Japan, and even the Dutch can't get involved.The Japanese shogunate and the coastal daimyos only recognized Zheng Jiaqi, and any other merchant ships could not dock for trade, otherwise they would be attacked and driven away by Japanese samurai.

The profits brought to the Zheng family by this monopoly commodity trade with Japan every year are not inferior to the protection fees they collect.In addition, Zhu Youjian promised that the Zheng family's merchant ships would only need to pay the relevant fees when entering and leaving the Daming port, instead of paying commercial taxes. It was after comprehensive consideration that Zheng Zhilong made the decision to obey the court.

However, not all pirates have the ability and strength to earn money through business.

Let’s not talk about the 10,000+ pirates, let’s just talk about these main leaders. If they are not direct descendants of the Zheng family, although others have more or less a few or a dozen merchant ships, they can earn tens of thousands of taels a year. Waiting for money, but this kind of serious and laborious business, how can it catch up with the large amount of money that can be obtained every year by sitting still?
Pirate minions can be integrated into the two newly established fleets, and the old and frail can be recruited as sailors on merchant ships, but what about these leaders who are not direct descendants of the Zheng family?
These people have been floating on the sea all year round since their ancestors, and they have long been accustomed to the days of freedom, drinking, and drinking. If you let them cut off their main source of income and join the navy, even if they have a good salary, you have to abide by the rules of the army. The joy of catching up with the unscrupulous and unfettered days?

The problem raised by Zheng Zhibao is realistic and difficult, and we must find a way to solve it. Otherwise, once the news spreads, there will be chaos and turmoil along the southeast coast. Some dissatisfied leaders will raise their arms and many people will follow. The Zheng family set sail on the sea, and once again lived the life of pirates who depended on plunder for their livelihood.

Once the sea is no longer peaceful, the number of merchant ships going to and from the sea will be greatly reduced, which is extremely detrimental to Daming's financial revenue and the development of commodity trade, and will also affect the free trade agreement signed between Daming and the Netherlands. The situation is the last thing Zhu Youjian wants to see.

"Butang, what Zhibao said is very reasonable, what should we do? My Zheng family is absolutely loyal to the Holy One. But Butang has been in Fujian for a long time, and he is very clear about the situation in the southeast. If there is any disharmony, Your Majesty’s plan to open the sea will definitely be blocked. If your Majesty doesn’t know the reason, he may mistakenly think that it was caused by my Zheng Jiayang’s violation of Yin and Yang, then the crime of the Zheng family is really beyond redemption!”

Zheng Zhibao's words reminded Zheng Zhilong.

This matter must be explained clearly in front of Zou Weilian.Let the palace know that the rituals along the southeast coast are intricate and complicated. Although the Zheng family is the most powerful, they have not yet reached the point where they can cover the sky with one hand.

"Fei Huang, don't worry, the Holy Majesty is an ignorant person? Before this old man, I have been correct about all the possibilities caused by opening the sea, and the Holy Majesty already knows about it.

Now that the words have been spoken, the old man will ask again, with the current strength of the Zheng family, is it possible that they are also helpless? "

Zou Weilian, who had been prepared for this, asked with a smile on his face.

Before leaving Beijing, when discussing with Chen Qiyu, a scholar of the Martial Arts Hall, the ruthless cabinet minister had anticipated this situation in advance, and his strategy for this was simple: the Zheng family must pay the corresponding price. The Zheng family cannot be allowed to completely control the coast of Fujian.

Once this matter is made public, someone will definitely take the opportunity to break away from the Zheng family's control, and if this situation is not to arise, the best way is to let Zheng Zhilong come forward, and in the name of the imperial court's promotion of pirate leaders, get these people out of control. Call them all together, and in the end, they will catch them all and kill them all.

This method can definitely be imagined with Zheng Zhilong's mind.

At that time, as long as the news that the Zheng family is going to drive everyone else to death is passed on to some people, and the non-Zheng family members are forced to completely turn against Zheng Zhilong, in this case, in the foreseeable future, the Zheng family will have to devote themselves to the struggle with their former partners In the future, the Zheng family can only rely more on the help of the imperial court on land, so it is easier for the Zheng family to handle it.

There are many islands on the vast sea. To completely wipe out the opponent, it needs to consume a lot of human, financial and material resources and time, and it cannot be achieved overnight.

As long as there is always a force that can threaten the Zheng family in the southeast sea, it will give the imperial navy time to grow, lest the Zheng family will be free to squeeze the growth space of the Ming navy.

Facing Zou Weilian's most obvious questioning, Zheng Zhilong didn't waste much time. After thinking about it for a while, he felt that it was just an opportunity to deal with Lin San and the others, so as to deter other pirates who refused to obey orders, so he stood up He bowed his hands to the amiable old boss on the opposite side and said: "The matter of opening the sea is an imperative action. As a minister of the Ming Dynasty, Fei Huang must put the Holy Majesty's will as the first priority. Fei Huang knows how to act!"

After leaving Hongyuanju, Zheng Zhilong and his subordinates sent letters around that afternoon, inviting all the leaders with more than [-] large ships under him to gather in Quanzhou Prefecture to discuss major issues in five days, and stated that it was related to the annual interest payment.

Except for the direct descendants of the Zheng family, the leaders of the various pirates who received the communication were surprised at random, but because the matter involved everyone's interests, they were all prepared to come to the meeting to see what new regulations would come out, including Lin Three, Feng Gouzi and other big leaders who are at odds with the Zheng family.

However, when these people were about to leave, both Lin San and Feng Gouzi received warnings from strangers, reminding them to be careful of fraud. Only Huang Qilang, who was weaker, did not receive the warning.

Both Lin San and Feng Gouzi had been in the pirate dens for many years, and they were very familiar with the various bloody methods used by pirates for profit. The sudden warning news made them both alert immediately, so the two After getting together to discuss, it was decided to send only a few of his men to Quanzhou, and he himself refused to attend the meeting on the grounds of being ill or going to sea.

Although Zheng Zhilong saw that Lin San and Feng Gouzi didn't come, but because most of the pirate leaders had already arrived, if there was no major announcement to announce the meeting, it would reduce his prestige instantly, so he decided to hold the meeting as scheduled.

As expected, Huang Qilang was the first to strongly oppose the matter after he publicly announced the court's policy of opening up the sea, and many people immediately joined Huang Qilang's side.

Everyone said that this piece of sea has belonged to everyone since ancient times, so why should they give up such a huge profit to the Ming court?You are now the Jing Haibo of Daming. In order to please the Emperor Dog, you want to buy it with everyone's money?
Although Zheng Zhilong was annoyed, he suppressed his anger and explained, but the dozen or so leaders who were not directly related to the Zheng family, headed by Huang Qilang, didn't listen at all. Huang Qilang even threatened on the spot. If so, don't blame him for being unable to restrain My subordinates are gone.

A few days later, Lin San and Feng Gouzi, who had already taken their men to settle on the island, got the news: Huang Qilang and other dozen pirate leaders and entourages who were against Zheng Zhilong were rushed out by Zheng Zhibao and the people who had ambushed them. All of them were beheaded, and their respective strongholds were surrounded by the well-prepared Zheng family fleet, and most of their men were also forced to surrender.

The two of them also hated Zheng Zhilong after sighing that they escaped by chance. If someone hadn't reported the letter, Zheng Zhilong would have taken the opportunity to get rid of him.But from now on, Zheng Zhilong will never let them go, and the only way out is to join forces and fight against the Zheng family.

When the matter developed to this point, Chen Qiyu's plan finally succeeded, and Zou Weilian also took the opportunity to propose the condition of taking over a dozen of the Zheng family's sea ships that had been in Dengzhou to the imperial court. Zheng Zhilong had no choice but to agree, and Zou Weilian left Fujian contentedly. Returning to Beijing, Feng Shun also led the Tiqi to disperse and evacuate quietly.

While all this was in full swing, Zhu Youjian, who was far away in the capital, was discussing with Zhou Hou, Tian Guifei, Yuan Xianfei and others in the Kunning Palace about the nobles in the palace going out to look for them.

　Thanks to a little sword fairy for the reward, this name is too cute, haha.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)