Lu Ming

Chapter 331 Liu Xiang's Coping

As the name suggests, Yu Xian's guest has an extraordinary demeanor.This gentleman is about 40 years old, wearing a scholar's robe, with a long beard, a clear face, and the appearance of a noble man.

In fact, Yu Xianke, as Liu Xiang's chief military adviser, did not make much strategic achievements, and it can even be said to have failed.Of course, he can't be blamed for this. After all, he was born as a wandering Taoist priest and has never read history books carefully.

In history, in the seventh year (1635) after Zheng Zhilong was recruited, the reputation of the Liuxiang Group, which kept looting the coastal areas of Fujian and Guangdong, reached its peak, causing Chongzhen to be shocked. The imperial court had to start the recruitment plan again, planning to bring Zheng Zhilong second.

Xiong Wencan, who was the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi at the time and also caressed Fujian, immediately ordered Hong Yunzheng, who was then the governor of Huizhou Prefecture, to preside over the matter, and went to the sea together with Guangzhou general Xia Zhilin, Chaozhou coastal defense Huang Zong, and Huizhou judge Yao Xizhe. Feng recruits Liu Xiang.

And who represented Liu Xiang to Haifeng to negotiate the recruitment matters?It was Yu Xianke, the military adviser.

And what about the outcome of the negotiation?
On April [-]th of that year, the government set up five factory sheds on the banks of the Haifeng River and held a ceremony of appeasement.Then Liu Xiang led forty or fifty wooden boats to the foot of the mountain, and went ashore to see Hong Yunzheng.

Just after the consolation, Liu Xiang suddenly accused Hong Yunzheng of being a fake governor, so he hijacked Hong Yunzheng and a group of officials on board.There was a sudden chaos on the shore, and countless tramples were trampled on.In the end, Liu Xiang imprisoned Hong Yunzheng and others in Mozi Gorge in Huidong County.

The occurrence of this hijacking incident can be said to be a watershed that led to Liu Xiang's prosperity and decline: from then on, the government stopped thinking about recruiting security and began to concentrate on mobilizing troops and horses to destroy Liu Xiang.

So after just one year, Liu Xiang was killed in Tianweiyang by Zheng Zhilong and the government coalition forces in seven battles and seven victories. Military advisor Yu Xianke died on the same day.

In this matter, Yu Xianke, the military adviser who served as the negotiating representative at the beginning, had to bear a great deal of responsibility. Well, Liu Xiang shouldn't be smart enough to take away a bunch of officials.What is the court most?The most officials!If you grab a truckload today, you can fill it up tomorrow!

Of course, for a pirate group that has no great political ambitions and only knows how to plunder everywhere, it is normal that the level of staff is low, because there will be no regular literati to join this kind of group.

After Li Zicheng grew up, he didn't get a Niu Jinxing until 1640, the eve of entering Beijing, and he was still a reform-through-labour prisoner who was punished by the Ming Dynasty.However, as if Li Post had obtained a treasure, he worshiped Niu Jinxing as a scholar (prime minister) in Xi'an-it can be seen that in ancient times, if the system had not completely collapsed, most literati would rather be poor than find a job outside the system.

In the same way, who would ignore Zheng Zhilong before recruiting him?However, once he puts on the official skin, even if he is a funny "five tiger guerrilla generals", a large number of literati will come, and all kinds of counselors, literati, Qingke and masters will fill the account. The difference between inside and outside the system is too great.

Although Yu Xianke's level is not high, but he is still Liu Xiang's more important person: because there are some things that only he can do are reasonable, and other illiterate pirates with rusty faces can't do it. For example, talking about recruiting.Yes, after Liu Xiang thought about it, under heavy pressure, he thought of the chamber pot again, so he planned to talk to the officials in the government about recruiting security.

"I don't know if my boss will meet the call, but the student is late, atonement, atonement." After entering the door, Yu Xianke was not a scholar, but he had learned a lot of the sour words of a scholar.

However, Liu Xiang insisted on this way: "Sir, you don't have to be polite. There is a troublesome matter that needs to be discussed. Maybe you need to go out for a while."

"It's easy to say, I don't know what the boss is talking about?"

"Ah..." Liu Xiang sighed at this moment: "Regard me."

Speaking of recruiting security, it is not so easy to recruit.If you can enter the system by admitting your defeat and kowtow, why is Zheng Zhilong the only one who succeeds among so many big pirates?

First of all, because of impure motives, Liu Xiang is the same as Li Kuiqi and his ilk, that is, it is very difficult for small pirate leaders like them to be recruited.

Hurt the government, reconcile the government, and then give the government face, do things in a high-profile manner, and behave in a low-key manner, settle the big officials and small officials, and also bear a large amount of early-stage venture capital, including but not limited to money and your own wealth and life
The real recruitment has very high requirements for the performer, and there are a lot of technical actions. Every link must be in place. The difficulty is no less than that of the rubbish companies in the later generations.

With Zheng Zhilong's dominance, layout, sincerity, slickness and flexibility, after many twists and turns at the beginning, he took personal risks many times, and was able to recruit after gaining the trust of the big boss.So for someone like Liu Xiang who is rebellious and half-hearted, the probability of success is actually negligible.

Of course Liu Xiang knew this very well, so Zhao An was a chamber pot—only when she was in a hurry to urinate would she think of it.

Now he has a urgency to pee.

When Liu Xiang told Yu Xianke all about the current situation of the gang, the latter was silent for a while, and then he asked slowly: "I don't know who the boss wants to vote for?"

"Ah." Liu Xiang sighed: "It's just that he's indecisive here."

"Since it's a fictional story, why should you care about the next family?" Yu Xianke didn't understand at this moment.

"Sir, I don't know something. This recruitment is a false one, so it's hard to be perfunctory." Liu Xiang shook his head and sighed again when he said this, and then he explained his analysis of the recruitment in detail.

In view of the current situation, for Liu Xiang, the most ideal state is to wear an official skin, so that he can be a minister with the Cao family and avoid future conflicts.

So now he has three options: talk to Cao about recruiting to become a second-line marshal, talk to Governor Xiong Wencan of Fujian about recruiting, and talk to Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi Wang Zunde about recruiting.

However, no matter which mountain to worship, it is obvious that under the huge strategic pressure of a certain force, he can no longer play with the government.

This awkward situation is extremely uncomfortable for Liu Xiang, who wants to put on official clothes and doesn't want to take responsibility.In other words, his ideal idea of ​​being a pirate while being an official and not conflicting with the Cao family is now impossible to realize.

Needless to say, the Cao family, who possesses powerful force, the half-hearted so-called recruiting security is just looking for trouble, attracting the opponent's gunboats to the door.

As for Xiong Wencan, the reason is the same: to come to the door to talk about recruiting security, it is bound to be inferior.Even a three-year-old child knows that murder and arson are prosecuted. If you didn't beat the government, can they treat you like a green onion?

We must know that the current situation is completely different from the history.

First of all, the most important point is that Liu Xiang can't threaten the coast of Fujian at all.

Secondly, Xiong Wencan not only has a strong family, but also has a gold medal fighter who is "completely different from Zheng Zhilong and seems quite obedient".At this time, Xiong Da has two sleeves of golden wind and praise from the court, which is the time when the spring breeze is inflated indiscriminately, so with his feet, he can imagine what Xiong Wencan will look like once Liu Xiang comes to the door.

In other words, shopkeeper Liu's bargaining power is now reduced, and Xiong Wencan's conditions will definitely be very harsh.

However, Lao Liu didn’t dare to walk away, because Lao Xiong didn’t care if the talk broke down, maybe Lao Xiong would still be happy to talk about it: let Liu Xiang go to Guangdong to slap Wang Zunde in the face, and it’s a good thing for him to watch the fun One. You can't have too high demands on the moral level of an official.

So on the surface, the best option is Lord Governor of Guangdong.

However, Liu Xiang personally is the least optimistic about Wang Zunde.

One: crazily looting and doing things in Guangdong, and then fought with the government army, and finally defeated the government army, got the government's intention to recruit security, and then came to the door with money to settle the big and small officials. Speaking of this difficult route, to be honest, Liu Xiang has no confidence in himself.

Second: Liu Xiang has no commercial base.In history, Zheng Zhilong was the son-in-law of Japan and controlled the Japanese raw silk trade.Moreover, he occupies Xiamen's old nest and has a commercial base and channels, so businessman Zheng Zhilong urgently needs to recruit security.

And what about Liu Xiang?He is a rogue, with neither commercial channels nor bases.Now Xiamen has been occupied by the Cao family, and there are Portuguese at the mouth of the Pearl River, so Liu Xiang lacks the motivation to recruit security.

This is the most fundamental reason for Liu Xiang's half-heartedness and repeated reluctance to recruit security in history: If Zheng Zhilong can't get it right, if he can't get Xiamen, what's the use of recruiting security?Except for the name, the government will not give it to them, except for the name.

Without commercial channels and bases, even if he was given the title of General Liu Laoxiang, he still had to take his brothers out to rob, otherwise, his men would run away in a short time.

The current situation is actually the same as in history, so Liu Xiang is very confused now: Even if he followed Wang Zunde's way to recruit security, but if he wants to go out to rob soon, why bother?
As for Liu Xiang's last concern, it was purely a premonition of his own: once he made things big in Guangdong, the Cao's soldiers and horses entrenched in Xiamen would come from behind to help Guangdong officials.

The Cao family is different from the traditional military leaders who live behind closed doors—for no reason, Liu Xiang just had this strange premonition.

After listening to the various concerns of the boss, even Yu Xianke, who is a gentleman, also has a strong sense of crisis at this moment.Yu Xianke couldn't help thinking that he was able to force his boss, who was always ruthless and straightforward, into such a situation.

After a cup of tea, after Yu Xianke had settled his thoughts, he stroked his long beard and said to Liu Xiang: "I am fully aware of Dong Weng's concerns. From the looks of it now, it is still necessary to find out the true and false thoughts of several schools." , so I can make a decision. So, I will set off tomorrow and take a trip to Xiamen and Fuzhou, and the owner will wait for my news."

Seeing Liu Xiang hesitated to speak, Yu Xianke, who knew his concerns, chuckled, raised his hand and pressed down: "My boss, don't worry, Yu will be courteous when he goes here, so that he won't offend his enemies and ruin him." situation."

"So I'm relieved." Seeing that the military division understood what she meant, Liu Xiang immediately nodded, "I'll see the military division off tomorrow!"

(End of this chapter)