Chongzhen: I am the king of prosperous times

Chapter 496 Zheng Zhilong

Zheng Zhilong was wearing mountain armor, and his expression was a little nervous. He followed the eunuchs of the inner court and walked in the Forbidden City, the power center of Ming Dynasty. He felt like he was dreaming.

"Zheng Guerzilla, when you are in front of the imperial court, you must abide by the rules of etiquette. You must not look directly at the emperor, but be respectful..."

There was the voice of the eunuch in the inner court, but at this time Zheng Zhilong was not thinking about it at all, what he was thinking about was the fleet berthing in Tianjin.

A secret edict was issued to the Son of Heaven to summon him to Beijing to meet the Holy Spirit. When Zheng Zhilong first heard about it, he couldn't believe it. It was not because Fujian Governor Xiong Wencan emphasized that Zheng Zhilong didn't want to go.

Don't look at Zheng Zhilong who led the Five Tigers as a guerrilla general, but he was on the outskirts of the Ming Dynasty's officialdom, and even separated from the Ming Dynasty's army. He was a quasi-warlord force at sea.

Both Fujian and Ryukyu have their own forces, and the naval forces under their command are even more disguised as official and pirate.

Zheng Zhilong didn't know in his heart, how could the emperor, who was in the Forbidden City thousands of miles away from the capital, issue an edict to him.

"General Zheng, right?"

Wang Chengenhou was outside Qianqing Palace, when he saw Zheng Zhilong approaching with a dignified expression, he quickly stepped forward and said: "Follow our family to meet the emperor, remember the rules."

"Here!"

Zheng Zhilong, stunned, looked at the strange Wang Chengen, and hurriedly clasped his fists in response.

At this time, to Zheng Zhilong, everything in the Forbidden City was unfamiliar.

Although he has a lot of power in Fujian and Ryukyu, it is not worth mentioning compared to Daming, not to mention that the person he wants to meet is the Son of Ming!

Inside the Dongnuan Pavilion.

Emperor Chongzhen stood with his hands behind his back, frowning and staring at the map of Fujian in front of him. Daming's emphasis on overseas was really poor.

Don't talk about the places in Nanyang, but how much you know.

Even Ryukyu, which is adjacent to Fujian Province, is rarely known.

On the side of the inner court and the side of the outer court, there is not even a map involving Ryukyu!
"Chen...Zheng Zhilong, pay homage to His Majesty!"

The sound from inside the hall made Emperor Chongzhen turn around, and looked at Zheng Zhilong who was kneeling on the ground, bowing his hands and showing a smile.

The man in front of him is Daming's Pirate King.

The Zheng family where they belonged was a force that was active in the late Ming Dynasty.

His son, Zheng Chenggong, was a hero against the Qing Dynasty.

It's a pity that this Zheng Zhilong has too many influences behind him. In addition to his official status, special identities such as pirates and compradors also make this person complicated.

If we say that the Liaodong generals headed by the ancestors are the quasi-warlord forces on the Ming mainland.

Then the group of official robbers headed by the Zheng family is a quasi-warlord force in the Daming Sea.

It's a pity that Ming Dynasty didn't pay much attention to opening the sea, and didn't pay much attention to overseas. Facing the invasion of the Netherlands and other sea powers, it also focused on passive defense, and did not actively adopt an aggressive posture at sea.

This also made people like Zheng Zhilong not very active in the political arena of Ming Dynasty during the reign of Chongzhen.

However, the large and small pirate forces headed by the Zheng family have woven a network of maritime forces with strong influence and close maritime trade in Dongpu, Ryukyu, and Nanyang.

"You are Zheng Zhilong?"

Emperor Chongzhen restrained his mind and pretended to be puzzled.

"Report to Your Majesty, it is the minister."

Zheng Zhilong bowed hurriedly.

"Get up."

Emperor Chongzhen waved his hand and said: "I heard that your Zheng family has a large-scale sea fleet in the waters of Fujian and other places?
Even before joining the Ming Dynasty, what other Shiba Zhi, you were elected as the leader? "

"minister……"

Zheng Zhilong wanted to get up, but his legs gave way, and he knelt on the ground, sweating coldly, not knowing what to say.

"Oh, get up."

Emperor Chongzhen stepped forward, bent down to pull Zheng Zhilong up, and said, "I know what's going on with the Zheng family. If I wanted to kill you, I wouldn't ask you to come to Beijing."

"Yes Yes."

Zheng Zhilong became nervous.

The big bright boy in front of him is very young, but Zheng Zhilong can clearly feel the confidence in his gestures.

What kind of dark history their Zheng family has, Zheng Zhilong knows best.

Even at this time, on the Ryukyu side, their Zheng family and the Netherlands and other Western forces have deep interests.

Can these be mentioned?
"In Ryukyu, how much do your Zheng and Yan families control?"

"!!!"

Zheng Zhilong, who was already nervous, suddenly felt horrified when he heard such words, and his whole state became particularly bad.

Emperor Chongzhen looked calm, looking at Zheng Zhilong in front of him.

In the third year of Chongzhen's reign, Zheng Zhilong's maritime power was far from being as powerful as it was in the Southern Ming Dynasty.

Zheng Zhilong's rise in the sea is related to marrying Yan Siqi's daughter and inheriting Yan Siqi's inheritance.

For Emperor Chongzhen at this time, he didn't care about Zheng Zhilong's black material, including the so-called black history of Zheng Yan's family.

Emperor Chongzhen summoned Zheng Zhilong, and the political purpose he wanted to achieve was to open up a sea trade route from Tianjin to Ryukyu, and then transship it to various places in Southeast Asia, on the official side of Ming Dynasty.

As for who is actually in control of this official, there is no need to delve into it at this stage. After all, Ming's sea power is still very weak.

"Zheng Qing stopped in Tianjin this time, how do you think the development of Zhili Prefecture in Tianjin?"

Seeing that Zheng Zhilong didn't know what to say, Emperor Chongzhen walked forward slowly, and said: "Now in the territory of Tianjin, I plan to continue like this.

The opening of the sea and trade in the north of the Ming Dynasty will be based on Tianjin.

In this period, how do people in Daming Jiangnan and other places, including Ryukyu and Nanyang, view this matter? "

"Report... Your Majesty."

Zheng Zhilong, who was following the emperor, thought about it, and said cautiously: "I led the fleet to anchor in Tianjin, and I didn't see much.

However, the newly built Tianjin Port is quite large in scale.

This is a very good thing for Kaihai Tongshang.

In fact, many of the products produced by my Ming Dynasty are very popular in Nanyang. If the imperial court can continue to open seas and trade in Tianjin, it will attract many Western sea merchants. "

Zheng Zhilong didn't have much confidence in his heart. He knew how much the emperor in front of him knew about Haimao and Nanyang, so he could only say what he could say.

In fact, the Zheng and Yan families also had corresponding sea trade exchanges under the rule of various places in Southeast Asia.

It's a pity that it was all done in secret. After all, in the mainland of Daming, it was said that the sea was opened, but in fact it was the same as if the sea hadn't been opened.

The root cause lies in the coastal provinces in the south of the Yangtze River, where there are many vested interest groups, who do not want their interests to be handed over to the imperial court.

"I am very pleased that you can say these words." Emperor Chongzhen smiled slightly: "It proves that in Zheng Qing's heart, there is still Ming Dynasty and the imperial court. This is very good."

(End of this chapter)