In the sixth year of Kangxi, Shoufu Sony died of illness. The fourteen-year-old Emperor Kangxi officially took charge of the government, was congratulated in the Taihe Palace, and granted amnesty to the world. However, only ten days later, Ao Bai killed Suke Saha, who was also an auxiliary minister, and a few days later he was promoted to the first rank of public prince with Kubilong, and the actual political situation was not directly controlled by Emperor Kangxi.

At that time, Emperor Kangxi often summoned young guards to play a game of fluttering in the palace, and on May 16, the eighth year of Kangxi, he suddenly ordered these guards to arrest him when he entered the palace. The minister discussed the 30 articles of Aobai's great crime and asked to kill his family, and the Kangxi Emperor remembered the merits in Aobai, pardoned him for his capital crime and detained him, but killed many of Aobai's younger brothers and nephews and his henchmen, and soon Aobai died in the forbidden place. The only remaining auxiliary minister, Curb Bilong, was stripped of his Taishi and First Class Duke because of his long-term collusion. As a result, Emperor Kangxi completely regained the power of the imperial court and began the stage of real pro-government.

Some people think that Shi Lang was a great patriotic hero who successfully swept away the separatist regime in Taiwan and incorporated Taiwan into the administrative map of China, but some people believe that Shi Lang surrendered to the Qing regime twice and was willing to die for foreign rulers, and was a national scum.

Shi Lang was born in a relatively well-to-do peasant family in Yakou, Jinjiang, Fujian. Since he was a child, he has amazing strength and outstanding knowledge, and his family has high hopes for him, hoping that he will seek fame and glory for his ancestors. Helplessly, he is good at martial arts and literature, and he is not interested in official career. Later, as the family road gradually declined, Shi Lang abandoned literature and martial arts, practiced martial arts and practiced the art of war.

At that time, it was the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, and there was wolf smoke everywhere. Shi Lang had an uncle named Shi Fu, who was a close confidant of Zheng Zhilong, the chief soldier of the Ming Dynasty. When Shi Lang was seventeen years old, he left his hometown to join his uncle and join Zheng Zhilong's team. Because of his outstanding military achievements, Shi Lang was soon promoted to guerrilla general.

Zheng Zhilong, who was the Taishi of the Southern Ming Dynasty at that time, saw that the general trend was gone, so he secretly sent someone to contact the Qing. Bo Luo, the general of the southern Qing Dynasty, promised Zheng Zhilong to serve as the governor of Fujian and Guangdong after he surrendered. Zheng Zhilong ignored the hard persuasion and obstruction of his son Zheng Chenggong, and led his troops, including Shi Lang, to Fuzhou to surrender to the Qing Dynasty.

However, after surrendering, Zheng Zhilong found out that he had been deceived, and instead of becoming the governor of Fujian and Guangdong, he was kidnapped by Bolo and placed under house arrest in Beijing. The officers and soldiers who came with Zheng Zhilong were forcibly assigned to the Qing army camp, and Shi Lang was also incorporated into the Qing army that attacked the Southern Ming regime. Shi Lang learned that Zheng Chenggong had raised troops to resist the Qing Dynasty, so he led his younger brother Shi Xian and some generals to defect to Zheng Chenggong's command.

Zheng Chenggong, who was three years younger than Shi Lang, had not been in the army long ago and his strength was weak, so he valued Shi Lang's military talent very much, appointed him as the left vanguard, regarded him as his right-hand man, and discussed with him every major event. Shi Lang also served Zheng Chenggong wholeheartedly, and also led the army to capture Zhangpu, Jieyang and other places, improving Zheng Chenggong's prestige and power. However, after a long time, there was constant friction between Shi Lang, who was a little arrogant, and Zheng Chenggong, who was young and vigorous, and the relationship between the two gradually deteriorated.

The Zeng De incident finally caused Shi Lang and Zheng Chenggong to part ways. Zeng De was a pacesetter under Shi Lang, who once committed a capital crime in violation of military law, and because he was afraid of being punished by Shi Lang, he defected to Zheng Chenggong to seek refuge, and Zheng Chenggong promoted him to his personal follower. Shi Lang was indignant when he heard the news, and sent someone to arrest Zeng De and behead him. Zheng Chenggong was furious and ordered the arrest of Shi Lang and his father Shi Daxuan and younger brother Shi Xian.

Later, Shi Lang escaped with a trick, and Zheng Chenggong executed Shi Lang's father and younger brother in a fit of rage. Shi Lang hated Zheng Chenggong to the bone marrow, determined to defect to the Qing Dynasty, and vowed to avenge Zheng Chenggong's killing of his father and brother. Hearing that Shi Lang took the initiative to surrender, Li Shutai, the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang of the Qing army, was overjoyed and immediately reported to the imperial court, and the Qing court quickly approved and appointed Shi Lang as the deputy general of Tong'an of the Qing army, and soon promoted him to the general of Tong'an. After Shi Lang's old subordinates learned that he had surrendered, many of them followed. In this way, Shi Lang turned from Zheng Chenggong's close comrade-in-arms to a powerful opponent.

Zheng Chenggong used the dense fog as a cover and led his troops to recover Taiwan, which had been invaded by the Dutch invaders. On the island of Taiwan, Zheng Chenggong regarded the Ming Dynasty as orthodox and dreamed of one day realizing the great cause of opposing the Qing Dynasty and restoring the Ming Dynasty. Unfortunately, this national hero died young soon after, and the Zheng group split and fought for the throne of Yanping County for Zheng Chenggong.

The generals of Zheng Jun in Taiwan supported Zheng Chenggong's younger brother Zheng Xi to succeed to the throne, and the generals in Xiamen elected Zheng Chenggong's eldest son Zheng Jing to succeed him, and the two sides did not give in to each other. In the end, Zheng Jing calmed down the contradictions and seized power. But he openly betrayed his father, and even claimed that Taiwan was far overseas and did not belong to China's territory, intending to divide one side and confront the Qing court across the sea. Zheng Jing's perverse behavior caused great indignation in the world.

At that time, Shi Lang, who had already been promoted to the commander of the Fujian Navy, suggested taking the opportunity to capture Kinmen and Xiamen. The Qing court adopted Shi Lang's suggestion and conspired with Geng Jimao, the king of Jingnan, and Li Shutai, the governor of Jingnan, to suppress the thieves. After the First World War, the Qing army successfully recovered Kinmen and Xiamen, and Zheng Jing fled to Dongshan Island. Shi Lang led his army to capture Dongshan Island, thus losing all the strongholds of Zheng's army that had been operating along the coast of Fujian for more than 20 years.

Immediately afterwards, Shi Lang put forward the idea of marching into Taiwan, suggesting that taking advantage of Zheng Jingjun's unstable heart, he would send troops to attack Penghu, and then attack Taiwan directly, seeking to realize the unity of the four seas. The ambitious young Kangxi gladly accepted Shi Lang's suggestion and appointed him as the general of Jinghai, responsible for commanding the naval division and looking for opportunities to use troops against Taiwan.

Shi Lang chose the northerly wind season in winter and led the Qing army's naval division to Taiwan for the first time. Unexpectedly, on the way to the army, the Qingshui Ocean in the Taiwan Strait suddenly encountered a typhoon, and the wind and clouds were rolling, and the vicious waves were monstrous. Despite Shi Lang's rich sailing experience, according to the level of shipbuilding at that time, he could not resist such strong winds and waves, so he had to order to return to the sea. Shi Lang launched two more attacks on Taiwan, but both of them were stranded due to typhoons.

Three successive troop dispatches were unsuccessful, which aroused the criticism of Shi Lang by many Manchu officials in the DPRK and China, and some even suspected that he was not sincere in using troops against Taiwan. In the years that followed, opposition to the use of force prevailed within the Qing court. Although the young Kangxi was very supportive of Shi Lang's ideas, he had no choice but to take power yet, so he had to listen to the opinions of Aobai and other main Fu factions.

Kangxi ordered the abolition of the Fujian Naval Division, burned all the warships, and the imperial court no longer discussed the matter of conquest of Taiwan by force, and transferred Shi Lang to the capital to be reappointed as the Minister of the Interior. The Minister of the Interior was only an idle post, and Shi Lang, who was bent on pacifying Taiwan by force, felt very distressed. However, he was not discouraged, but continued to pay attention to the coastal trends in Fujian, conscientiously summed up the lessons of failure, and slowly waited for the opportunity to make a comeback. Who knew that this would be a full thirteen years.

Zheng Jing, who ruled Taiwan, died, and the descendants of the Zheng family fought for the throne, and serious infighting broke out again. At this time, the Qing court had put down the rebellion of the three feudatories, and the Kangxi Emperor had also secured his throne, so he made up his mind to unify Taiwan by force. At this time, Shi Lang, who was already in the age of six, finally waited for the opportunity he dreamed of.

Under the strong recommendation of Yao Qisheng, the governor of Fujian, and Li Guangdi, Shi Lang's fellow villager and scholar, Kangxi overrode public opinion, reappointed Shi Lang as the admiral of the Fujian Navy, and added the title of prince to the young prince, so that he could return to Fujian immediately and prepare to send troops. Before leaving, Kangxi specially gave Shi Lang a banquet. During the banquet, he said earnestly: "On the issue of pacifying Taiwan by force, only I agree with your plan, and I hope you can do your best and not disappoint my hopes!"

The grateful Shi Lang said proudly: "Although the old minister is sixty-two this year, his blood has not yet exhausted, and he can still serve the emperor and the court." If I fail again, I will be willing to accept my guilt. ”

As soon as Shi Lang arrived in Xiamen, he worked day and night to prepare for the expedition, almost to the point of forgetting to sleep and eat. On the one hand, he trained sailors, manufactured ordnance, and selected generals, while collecting intelligence on the Zheng army, plotting against the generals of the Zheng army, and formulating a plan for attacking Taiwan. After half a year of hard work, everything is finally ready, just waiting for the troops.

The island of Taiwan is narrow and lacks strategic depth, and Penghu is the only barrier to its outer defense. Once Penghu is captured, Taiwan will be self-defeating. Shi Lang led more than 300 large warships, more than 20,000 sailors, and more than 230 small and medium-sized warships to set sail from Dongshan Island in Fujian Province and enter Penghu.

In the early morning of the 16th, Shi Lang launched the first attack on the Penghu Zheng army. On the 18th, Shi Lang sent warships to capture the two islands of Hujing and Tongpan outside Penghu Port and cleared the periphery. On the 22nd, the Qing Dynasty's naval divisions launched another attack in three directions: Shi Lang personally led the main attack force composed of 56 large warships to attack the main position of the Zheng army, Niangma Palace; the general soldier Chen Python and others led an eastern front attack force composed of 50 warships, which broke into Jilongyu from the east side of Penghu Port, and as a surprise soldier, cooperated with the main attacking force to flank Niangma Palace; and Dong Yi, the chief soldier, led a western front attack force composed of another 50 warships, entered Niuxin Bay from the west side of the port, and carried out a feint landing to contain the Zheng army in the west.

In addition, the remaining eighty ships were used as reserves to follow with the main attacking force. Both sides knew that this was a fateful battle, so they fought each other and fought fiercely for seven days and nights. Shi Lang skillfully took advantage of the favorable southwest wind conditions and adopted the five-point plum blossom formation tactic, that is, using multiple warships to besiege one of the Zheng army and concentrate his forces to fight. Suddenly, the plum blossoms flew on the vast sea, and the Qing army's naval divisions became more and more courageous, conquering the Penghu Islands in one fell swoop, destroying nearly 200 large and small warships of the Zheng army, annihilating more than 12,000 elite troops of the Zheng army, and collecting and surrendering nearly 5,000 people. Zheng Jun's commander Liu Guoxuan was lucky enough to rely on the familiar terrain to lead a small number of his subordinates to flee back to Taiwan.

Penghu missed, and the Zheng group suddenly became a mess of porridge, some advocated surrender, some advocated defense, and some advocated retreat to Luzon, but there was no result for a while. But to their surprise, Shi Lang did not immediately send troops to attack Taiwan, but settled down in Penghu, while appeasing the local people, and sending people to rescue the Zheng officers and soldiers who had not died in the water.

Shi Lang ordered the release of the captured Taiwanese generals back to Taiwan, and before his release, he made a special statement: "I will absolutely not take revenge! The person who killed my father back then is dead and has nothing to do with anyone else." ”

He also promised: "Not only will the soldiers not be killed, but even the Zheng family will never kill as long as they are willing to surrender." ”

The people around Shi Lang once asked: "The general and the Zheng family have a deep blood feud, and now the descendants of the Zheng family have become fish in the kettle and birds in the cage, why don't you hurry up and send troops to exterminate them and avenge your relatives?"

Shi Lang said: "I am leading troops to attack Taiwan, and this is a major national affair, so how can I take the opportunity to declare a personal vendetta? As long as the Zheng family is sincerely obedient, I will not harm them, otherwise it will cause dissatisfaction among the people and affect the people of Taiwan." ”

At the same time, Shi Lang went to the imperial court and suggested that the Zheng clique should be appeased to strive for the peaceful reunification of Taiwan and save the Taiwanese people from the disaster of swords. Kangxi was very appreciative of Shi Lang's approach, and agreed to his suggestion. The young Yanping King Zheng Ke and Liu Guoxuan and others were originally afraid of Shi Lang's revenge and did not dare to surrender, but now they saw that Shi Lang did not mean to kill him, so they hurriedly sent people to Penghu Shi Lang's army to ask for surrender.

Shi Lang led his army to Taiwan and landed ashore at Luermen. Liu Guoxuan and others greeted them in front of the army, and the people of all ethnic groups in Taiwan greeted them in the middle of the road. Zheng Ke led the civil and military officials of the Zheng group, as well as Zhu Heng, the son of King Lu and Zhu Ling, the king of Le'an, who were in Taiwan of the Ming Dynasty, to cut their hair and shave their heads. The strands of hair falling in the wind marked the official return of the Zheng group and the end of the small court of the Southern Ming Dynasty.

When Shi Lang's good news of recovering Taiwan reached the capital, it was the Mid-Autumn Festival. Kangxi was overjoyed when he heard the news, took off his dragon robe and sent someone to reward Shi Lang, and personally made a medal of commendation, and named Shi Lang as the Marquis of Jinghai, hereditary replacement, and made him Yongzhen Fujian Sailor.

Shi Lang became famous, but left controversy for 300 years.