Haisheng Mingdi

Chapter 368 One official party
"Fengtian Chengyun Emperor's Order said:
At the beginning of my ascension to the throne, when discussing meritorious deeds, those whose deeds are not rewarded for meritorious deeds should break the rules to show them with respect.

Er Zheng Zhilong is loyal, wise and brave. He once managed the sea during the time of Emperor Lie, and he has a good reputation.When I ascended the throne at Xiaoling Mausoleum, the central plains were still undecided, and you were deeply loyal, so you first sent people to pay tribute, money and food, and when my relatives made the northern expedition, you even sent brothers, nephews and nephews to lead the Fujian Navy to the north to assist them. They were loyal and made great contributions.

When I was in charge of the country, Jin granted the title of Marquis of Nan'an.

Every time I recite Zhilong Gong's great reward, I don't feel comfortable in my arms.

Zi Te made you the Duke of Pingguo, with imperial orders, hereditary from descendants, you will express your loyalty, do your best to serve you, obey your favor, and never replace you forever, dear, so!

The tenth day of the first month of the second year of Shaotian. "

Fuzhou, Fujian.

In the Governor's Mansion, Zheng Zhilong and a group of Fujian civil and military officials greeted the angel's decree.

"My minister Zheng Zhilong thanked the Lord for his kindness, long live my emperor, long live long live!"

Li Changxiang, the censor of Youqin Capital and the left servant of the Ministry of War, took out another edict, "Ping Guo Gong Zheng Zhilong listens to the letter!"

Zheng Zhilong bowed down to Tingfeng again.

This is an imperial edict to worship Zheng Zhilong as Shaobao, Prince Taibao, and Dongge University Bachelor.

Zheng Zhilong thank you again.

Li Changxiang took out another edict.

Zheng Zhilong knelt again.

This edict is to grant Zheng Zhilong the governor of the imperial camp.

······
After a long time, Zheng Zhilong took Li Changxiang to his seat.

Li Changxiang, in his 30s, was a Jinshi in Chongzhen for 16 years. He was a fellow villager of Xue Guoguan, the chief assistant. , there is no other way, but please act cheaply, even if the gold medal is not allowed to stop.

Beijing died, went south, and Zhang Huangyan was a good friend, running around together to seek recovery.

Under Zhang Huangyan's recommendation, Zhu Yihai first appointed Li Changxiang as the censor of salt inspection in Zhejiang, and this time he was inspecting Fujian. His friend Zhang Huangyan was conferred the title of governor of Taiwan by the emperor this time.

Taiwan had previously set up a government, although this time it did not set up a province, but like Pianyuan, Yunyang, and Nanjiang, a special governor was set up to control Taiwan on the grounds of the special situation. , Penghu, and the two prefectures of Zhangzhou and Quanzhou in Fujian, and Chaoshan in Guangdong are all placed under the jurisdiction of the governor of Taiwan.

Zheng Zhilong went north to join the cabinet, Zheng Hongkui took over as the governor of Fujian, Zhang Huangyan was the governor of Taiwan, and Zhang Kentang was still the governor of Fujian.

Li Changxiang was a tour guide for Fujian, and Xu Fuyuan was a tour guide for Taiwan.

"Before the official went south, His Majesty personally summoned him and repeatedly explained that Zheng Gong is a pillar in the southeast. He is famous in hundreds of battles in the southeast. Now that the Central Plains is fighting, Zheng Gong is specially invited to come out of the mountain again to be in charge of the governor's camp and join the cabinet to participate in politics.

The eldest son has also led the imperial battalion of tigers and eight thousand to the south, and will join forces with soldiers from several provinces in Fujian and Guangdong to attack the Dutch red hair of the senior officials. From now on, the Zheng family will enshrine Yongzheng in Taiwan, just like Mu Jiali, the Duke of Guizhou in Yunnan. "

Zheng Zhilong was very happy with what he had said.

Although this sea hero is well-known, he is not really old. He was born in the 32nd year of Wanli, and he is actually only 42 this year.

It's just that he has been exposed to the wind and sun at sea for many years, and his skin looks darker and older.

He was born in a small official family in Nan'an, Fujian Province. He was nicknamed Yiguan. When he was 17 years old, he went to Xiangshan Macao (Macao) to follow his uncle. Later, he went to Manila, Luzon, learned Portuguese, and later accepted Catholic baptism. Gula.

Later, he traveled across the sea and became proficient in many languages, including Portuguese, Japanese, Dutch, and Spanish.

When he was young, his uncle saw that he was capable, so he asked him to accompany Li Dan, an overseas Chinese in Japan, to escort the goods on the ship to Xingyang. He bought sugar, musk, buckskin, Qinan, etc. from Fujian, and sailed from Xiangshanao to Japan. Qi Qi, who does business with the great merchant Li Dan, is very capable.

Later, he was adopted by Li Dan as his adopted son, and he gave him some ships to go to Annan to do business. He made a lot of profits, and Nicholas Zheng Yiguan became a rich man and a new rich man at sea.

He also became a leader of overseas Chinese in Japan. He even paid homage to the Japanese Tokugawa shogun and was rewarded. He became a prominent figure in the hearts of the Japanese and was highly respected.

Later in Hirado, he was favorably received by the local daimyo Matsuura, who gave him a house near Hirado to build a new house, and introduced Tian Chuan Song, the daughter of his retainer Tian Chuan Yuhuang, to marry. Later, he gave birth to his eldest son Zheng Sen and his second son Qi Zuomenwei. .

Zheng Zhilong went from a ship's merchant to Li Dan's translator, and later his right-hand man, and then Li Dan, who had no wife and children, gave Zheng Zhilong his career and property in Taiwan after his death.

During the reign of Tianqi, Zheng Zhilong recruited tens of thousands of hungry people from Fujian to Taiwan to reclaim wasteland. At that time, he had more than 700 ships. Because the Ming banned the sea, Zheng Zhilong was finally accused of being a pirate. Zheng Zhilong competed for the interests of trade across the Taiwan Strait, joined forces with the Dutch to attack Zheng Zhilong, and then contacted the Ming Dynasty to encircle and suppress Zheng Zhilong, but in the end the Ming army was defeated and Xu Xinsu was killed.

In the seventh year of the Apocalypse, the Dutch stationed in Taiwan had a war with Zheng Zhilong, and Zheng Zhilong won in the end.

In the first year of Chongzhen, the power of Zheng Zhilong led the Ming Dynasty to change from suppressing to fu. Zheng Zhilong was recruited as the guerrilla general of the Five Tigers. He left Taiwan, where he had been operating for many years, and settled in the Fujian Sea. At this time, he already had more than [-] people and ships. thousand ships.

Defend the coast for the imperial court, encircle and suppress pirates, and resist the Dutch, from the official to the commander-in-chief.

In the sixth year of Chongzhen, Zheng Zhilong defeated the fleet of the Dutch East India Company in the Kinmen naval battle in Fujian.

Zheng's business scope is also extensive in the East and Southeast Asia. His financial resources and military strength are also increasing year by year. A fleet of large and small ships has become the largest maritime overlord in the East China Sea and the South China Sea.

From the Apocalypse to the Chongzhen Dynasty, Zheng Zhilong never stopped recruiting hungry people from Fujian to Taiwan for reclamation. Up to now, there are tens of thousands of mainland immigrants in Taiwan for reclamation.

He also took advantage of Japan's policy of locking up the country and relied on his special relationship with Japan to carry out trade with Japan and make more profits.

After the fall of Beijing, during the Hongguang and Shaotian dynasties, Zheng Zhilong relied on his strong strength to gain the reliance of the two dynasties, and his status rose steadily.

From Fujian General Town, Nan'an Bo, to Fujian Governor, Nan'an Marquis, and now Ping Guogong, Dongge University Bachelor and Imperial Governor.

For Zheng Zhilong, who is only 42 years old, this has undoubtedly reached the pinnacle of his life. This is something he never even dared to think about.

The 17-year-old boy went to Xiangshanao to live with his uncle. Since then, he traveled abroad with sea ships, traveled here and there, and worked hard in foreign countries. He recognized the big businessman Li Dan as his adoptive father, paid homage to the Japanese shogun, made friends with Japanese daimyo, and married an Oriental woman. As a wife, he recruited hungry people to Taiwan to reclaim wasteland, used money to make friends with the court dignitaries, and accepted the Ming Dynasty's recruitment to become a guerrilla general.

One step at a time, he is just like those fellow Fujianese who are daring to fight and fight, he has the strength to work hard in his bones, and he will not waste any chance.

But even if it was two or three years earlier, Zheng Zhilong never imagined that the situation in the world would change like this a few years later, let alone that he would have such a great minister one day.

The eldest son became the surname of the country and was adopted by the emperor as a adopted son. Now he is the admiral of the imperial camp in Fujian, and he is bestowed as the viscount of Yanping County.

Brothers are named Marquis and Boss, or governor or admiral.

After the lively banquet, after Li Changxiang was arranged to rest, Zheng Zhilong summoned the Zheng family's children to discuss matters.

"I think the imperial court has bad intentions, the visitor is not kind, and he has evil intentions!" Zheng Hongkui said bluntly with a gloomy face.

Zhi Bao laughed, "Fourth brother still dragged Wen when he was talking, just say what you want, I think the new emperor treats our Zheng family very well."

Zheng Hongkui was admitted to Wu Jinshi. His original name was Zhifeng. Hongkui’s name was changed during the examination of Wu Juren. He was a way for Zheng’s group to seek political status. At that time, he was granted the seal of Zhenjiang General Soldier and General Zhenhai.

Zheng Zhibao donated Guozijian students, Hongguang court officials to the deputy commander of the Navy.

Now there are two brothers, one is named Governor of Fujian and the other is named Admiral of Fujian.Zheng Zhibao was quite satisfied with this. After all, in addition to being named an admiral, he was also promoted to the earl of Chengji.

"Fifth brother, don't be coaxed by the emperor's tricks. What is the basis for our Zheng family to have today?" Zheng Hongkui, the fourth son, asked, "In the final analysis, it is because of an official party!"

The official party is the Cheng Group.

You can tell by the name of the official party. This is a group headed by an official Zheng Zhilong. They are engaged in maritime armed trade and operating the flag business.

Maritime armed trade is also half sea merchant and half pirate. As for the command flag business, it actually collects protection fees at sea, and the ship that pays the protection fee is given a command flag, and the Zheng family's command flag can be hung by them at sea. If someone dares to move a ship flying the Zheng Ziqi, the Zheng family will be responsible for attacking it.

Up to now, the Zheng family has also changed from an early armed maritime merchant to a powerful local warlord. However, since the time of Chongzhen, Zheng's officers are actually not included in the official system of the imperial court, which is equivalent to a kind of outsourced security.

However, in recent years, with the disintegration of the central court, the Zheng family has also accelerated the process of formalization. The navy has become more regular and powerful, and even started to form its own land force, and even started to establish its own secret intelligence agency in recent years. They also tried to master all levels of government in Fujian.

But now with the strong rise of Zhu Yihai, this emerging one-official party is also facing a huge threat from the northern central government.

For a long time, the Zheng family has been strong because of its monopoly on the benefits of maritime trade, making money from maritime trade, and then raising soldiers, using soldiers to maintain maritime trade, and even collecting flag money, and then strengthening its power to seek higher political status from the court.

Zheng Hongkui had stayed in the Central Plains. Although his Wu Jinshi had some water, he had also served as the general soldier of Zhenjiang after all. He knew all the twists and turns in the court, and no one there was easy to get along with.

Although the military strength of the Yiguan Party has increased greatly in recent years, with thousands of ships, it is still a private army in essence. The main members of the Zheng family each hold a fleet, and there are even some veterans of the Yiguan Party All the people also have some troops.

For example, Gan Hui, Shi Daxuan, Hong Xu, etc. in Shibazhili back then.

Yiguandang is a joint armed merchant shipping group around Zheng Yidang. Its roots are still in the sea and on board. If Zheng Zhilong now goes north to become a bachelor and Zheng Hongkui takes over as the governor of Fujian, it will be difficult to give orders immediately. The group, let alone the emperor sent the eldest son Zheng Sen to lead the eight thousand imperial camp south.

(End of this chapter)