In April of the seventh year of Yongli, on the eve of the Battle of Yongchun, Liu Qingtai, the new governor of Zhejiang and Fujian, who replaced the killed Chen Jin, submitted a letter to Zheng Chenggong through the relationship of the Zheng family and through the hands of Zheng Chenggong's grandmother, Mrs. Huang, to "preach the emperor's deep kindness" and "state that father and son should not be ruthless", and lured Zheng Chenggong to return to the Qing Dynasty with loyalty and filial piety.

The fighting did not stop as a result, and the two sides fought in May, which lasted until early June. However, in May, the Qing court had officially issued an edict, enshrined Zheng Chenggong as the Duke of Haicheng, Zheng Zhilong as the Marquis of Tong'an, Zheng Hongkui as Fenghuabo, and Zheng Zhibao as the governor of Zuodu, and gave Quanzhou a place for Zheng Chenggong to install and support the army, which was completely determined to drive Zheng Chenggong back to the sea in a war and collect the two prefectures of Zhangquan and even Chaozhou in Guangdong.

In the edict, the Qing court affirmed that Zheng Zhilong "sent people to Shun when the soldiers went south and did not arrive in Fujian, moved and withdrew the troops, and the father, son and brothers returned to their hearts and minds, and made great contributions." Then he accused "King Mollegan of being inconsiderate, only from a thin account, suspicious, and too strict in his precautions; In Fujian, the dependents are not able to be placed and nurtured, so that they are afraid and cannot be at ease. He then enlightened Zheng Chenggong to submit to the Qing court, and explained their resistance to the Qing Dynasty in the previous years as "you are waiting to protect the self-integrity of the people, not rebellion".

In this way, the Qing court affirmed Zheng Zhilong's merits in surrendering to the Qing Dynasty, and blamed the dead ghost Dolgon for the plundering of Zheng Zhilong and the bad situation after going north to the capital. In the end, he deliberately did not mention Zheng Chenggong's anti-Qing and Ming restoration banner, in order to give both sides a step, so as to facilitate the appeasement of Zheng Chenggong.

Speaking of which, the Qing court's grievances were actually due to the deterioration of the situation caused by Zheng Chenggong's successive victories in the sixth year of Yongli, and the attack and plundering of the Qing army by the Great Western Army out of Yunnan to resist the Qing Dynasty.

As written in a secret recital at that time: "Success has been a thief for a long time, and the wolf's ambition is that the ministers dare not rebel, and it is difficult to appease him." However, today, Hunan, Sichuan, and Guangzhou are using troops everywhere, and they are overwhelmed. And the thieves in Hunan, either from Jiangxi or Guangdong, can pass through Fujian, in case of collusion, the greater the disaster. Therefore, the aunt took a strategy of appeasement, first imprisoned the thief, rested the army and raised the people, and observed his movements; If there is a negative side, it is still cut off ......"

In this regard, due to the huge pressure in the southwest, as well as Zheng Chenggong's devastation on the battlefield in southern Fujian, coupled with Chen Kai's defense of the territory in eastern Guangdong, the Qing court did not hesitate to let the dead Dolgon carry the black cauldron to appease Zheng Zhilong, and at the same time appease Zheng Chenggong behind Zheng Zhilong, so as to alleviate the contradictions between the two sides, achieve appeasement, or prevent the actual threat of the merging of the southeastern Ming army and the southwestern Ming army.

As early as July and August last year, the Qing court had begun to vigorously appease Zheng Zhilong. In October, he issued an order to Liu Qingtai and instructed him to appease Zheng Chenggong. Before the latter submitted a letter to Zheng Chenggong, he even dismissed Zhang Xuesheng, the governor of Fujian, and Wang Yingyuan, the governor of Fujian, and sent them to the capital for trial.

Historically, in order to explain to Zheng Chenggong the raid on Xiamen Island in the fifth year of Yongli, the Qing court claimed that "local governors, towns, and provincial officials could not promote morality, show Huairou, oppose corruption, take merit, and provoke in vain, and the blame for the affairs of Xiamen was Ma Degong", so they sent Zhang Xuesheng, the governor of Fujian, Ma Degong, the chief soldier of the right road in Fujian, Huang Shu of Xingquan Dao, and Wang Yingyuan, the governor of Fujian, to prison in order to investigate the case of plundering Zheng's family property.

Now, since the Qing court can't pull Ma Degong and Huang Shu out of the eighteenth layer of hell again, it can only take Zhang Xuesheng, the mastermind, and Wang Yingyuan, who is responsible for supervision. The reason used is naturally not to plunder the family property anymore, but to mutilate the Zheng clan people - the torture and killing of the three Zheng clansmen under the city of Zhongzuo is intended to deceive the city and divide the old things.

Liu Qingtai, as the main faction in the court, spared no effort to show favor to Zheng Chenggong, and even took the Qing court from the emperor Shunzhi down to agree with this. However, the main suppression faction in the court was still quite powerful, so the final decision of the Qing court was to use both suppression and appeasement, and instructed the Pingnan general Jin Li to lead the army to enter and suppress, so as to further destroy Zheng Chenggong's prestige and increase the chances of victory in the appeasement.

However, the outcome of the war, like the Battle of Haicheng in history, ended in a crushing defeat for the Qing army. The Qing court sent Zhilong's cousin Huang Zhengming as an envoy to Fujian to convey the edict, proposing that Zheng Chenggong accept the appeasement, and the Qing court confirmed his dominance in the area under his actual control, and at the same time could assign prefectures and counties to raise troops as appropriate. Moreover, in order to achieve the effect, the Qing court even instructed Zheng Zhilong to send his family members Li De and Zhou Jiwu to hold a handwritten letter to persuade Zheng Chenggong to accept the Qing Dynasty's appeasement.

"If it turns out to be what he said back then, as long as the Tartar hurts, my brother's life will be better, and they will also put down the tune and try to negotiate peace with us."

Because the target of the Qing court's appeasement was not only Zheng Chenggong, but also Zheng Hongkui, who was idle and scattered, but never attached to the Qing court. When Zheng Hongkui read these letters of persuasion, he suddenly remembered Chen Kai's kind words and persuasions to him during the defense of the Central Left Institute, and now it seems as if he had seen it in person.

"It's never been a mistake to get the idea."

Regarding Zheng Hongkui's praise for his son-in-law, Zheng Chenggong, as a nephew and uncle, also nodded heavily, expressing his agreement with this.

Speaking of which, after many years of getting along, Zheng Chenggong knows Chen Kai far better than Zheng Hongkui. He is a person with good ability, and often has whimsical ideas, and his personality tends to be safe, but he also has the courage to take risks.

The old things back then, in fact, Chen Kai refuted Zheng Hongkui's face, and there was an element of putting the Zheng family members in danger, which made the positioning war intensify to that field. However, it turned out that Chen Kai did the right thing at that time, and with Ma Degong and Huang Shu as examples, the maritime authority of the Ming army and the status of the Zhongzuo as the center of trade in the Fujian Sea were guaranteed, which further weakened the strength of the Qing army and created favorable conditions for the counteroffensive in that year and the following year.

And now, Chen Kai's rhetoric back then has also been confirmed, and the two are also deeply convinced. But after sighing, Zheng Hongkui also knew that Zheng Chenggong invited him to come this time, in fact, so that their uncle and nephew could face the Qing court with a unified voice, and if they did a good job, they might not be able to ease the contradictions between the two sides.

"Da Mu thinks that for the appeasement of the Tartars, what should our Zheng family do?"

Zheng Hongkui asked, Zheng Chenggong had already made a calculation, took a deep breath, and replied categorically: "Yu Ting kept saying that he would give the little nephew land to install generals, didn't he still say that he would give Fujian, Zhejiang and Guangdong provinces to his father?" This time, he made a false appointment with him, and he calculated the plan, and the right to borrow food and salary to enrich the soldiers! ”

At this point, Zheng Chenggong picked up a letter and handed it to Zheng Hongkui. The latter took the letter, knowing that Zheng Chenggong had already planned, but he just opened the letter and read it carefully.

"Eight years of disobedience. But my father did not consider his son to be his son, nor did he dare to call himself a son. Sitting is a greeting, that is, not a word is connected. There are always times and different circumstances, so that the flesh and bones are suspended. Since ancient times, the righteous destruction of relatives has been carried out, and the life is not chaotic. When the father of Bingxu Winter drove into Beijing, the child was familiar with the plan, and the action was decisive. Ignore the strict commandment, and want to be loyal to the filial piety; It is still said that the Qing Dynasty has an edict, and there is the original line of Uncle Hou, that is, with the title and so on. The husband is untrustworthy to my father, and the son dares to believe in his father's words? ”

Unlike Chen Kai, who only joined the Zheng Group in the first year of Yongli, Zheng Hongkui is Zheng Chenggong's own uncle, and he is very clear about the relationship between Zheng Zhilong and Zheng Chenggong's father and son.

Back then, his sister-in-law was pregnant with Zheng Chenggong, but Zheng Zhilong fled to Taiwan because of a conspiracy with Yan Siqi and others to overthrow the Tokugawa shogunate. For many years after that, Zheng Zhilong worked hard in Minhai, and Zheng Chenggong was raised by his mother alone, and Zheng Zhilong's author was nothing more than a rare sneak to Japan to meet his wife, leaving some money, and at the same time informing some friends such as Hanafang Nanaemon to help take care of it, that's all.

The relationship between the father and son was already estranged, and even when Zheng Chenggong returned to his hometown, the relationship with his father was far less than the attachment to his mother. As for later, Zheng Zhilong insisted on going his own way, Zheng Chenggong couldn't persuade him, and the relationship between father and son was contrary to the idea of loyalty, so he naturally embarked on the road of "loyalty and filial piety cannot be both" and "sacrifice filial piety and take loyalty".

The relationship between father and son is like this, but after all, it is still father and son, how can the Qing court's deception of Zheng Zhilong win Zheng Chenggong's trust at this moment. Zheng Hongkui understands this, otherwise even if he was squeezed out by Zheng Chenggong because of the wrong handling of the Battle of Xiamen, even if he chose to transfer military power and go to Baisha to retire, he would not fall to the Qing court, which is not without this level of concerns.

"By the time Baylor entered the customs, his father had already retreated to his home. He is humble and clever, and the envoy who welcomes the invitation, the carriage and horse are not less than ten returns, and even the father is the king of the three provinces. At first, it was said that you could return home as soon as you arrived in the province, and it was also said that you could leave the town as soon as you entered Beijing. It's been a few years now, don't talk about the king, don't talk about going out of town, even if you want to get through your hometown. How can he be trusted? Father in this dynasty, isn't it a dignified and peaceful country! That is, the Qing Dynasty, how can it be left behind! The husband returns to the first, and the last? ”

Although, the son has also sailed into Guangdong Tuntian for several years. I didn't want to take advantage of my children to go away, start a war in vain, attack my center and left, ravage my territory, pious Liu and my people, kidnap my women, and brutalize my Zheng clansmen; The wealth of the rest of the soldiers and the money of the people, how can they win? ”

In the Zhangguo Mansion of the Central Left Office, Zheng Hongkui looked at Zheng Chenggong's reply word by word. Soon, the letter was sent to Fuzhou, and Liu Qingtai, the governor of Zhejiang and Fujian, and Tong Guoqi, the new governor of Fujian, read the letter one step ahead of Zheng Zhilong.

In the past few years, the Qing court and the Zheng group have come and gone, and since the two of them have been caressing this governor, they have long understood this. Zheng Chenggong's letters had a tone of the Qing court's untrustworthiness, and Zheng Chenggong turned over old accounts in his letters.

Speaking of which, there is no need to mention the confrontation between the two armies, each with its own master, but Zheng Chenggong talked about the deception of Zheng Zhilong by Boluo and even the Qing court behind it, and talked about the Qing army's raid on the Zhongzuo Institute, the difference is nothing more than that because Chen Kai defended the Zhongzuo Office, there are fewer words such as "plundering me more than 900,000 gold, hundreds of jewels, and hundreds of thousands of rice millet", and there is an extra sentence of "cruelty to my Zheng clan", but if these are explained clearly, it is even more credible that the Qing court is not credible.

"Husband by the coast, I am also inherent; The East and the West are paid, and those who have grown themselves are also. Advance and retreat, more than enough. Is it willing to sit on the throne but be subject to others? ”

"And in terms of Fujian and Guangdong, the stakes are clear, why is there no one in the Qing Dynasty? Covering the seaside of Fujian and Guangdong, thousands of miles away from Beijing, the road is far away, the people and horses are tired, and they are not familiar with the water and soil, and they are dead. If the soldiers are outnumbered, it will be difficult to defend, if there are many soldiers, they will inevitably be summoned, if they are called, the food will be difficult to support, and if the soldiers are not fed, the place will not be able to be defended. Wasting money and food and fighting for undefendable land is also harmful and unprofitable. ”

"If my father was in charge of Fujian and Guangdong during this dynasty, the mountains and seas were Ningning, and the court did not spend a single arrow, and in addition to the soldiers, there was still a solution to Beijing. The court enjoys its benefits, and the people are blessed by it, and this is beneficial and harmless. The Qing Dynasty could not follow the clever calculations of this dynasty, and the long-term plan of the laborers, and the useless money every year, how could it be good to follow it? It may be in the name of the three provinces, the former father, now turn to the child; It is not that the son does not believe in the words of the father, but it is difficult for him to believe the words of the father. ”

"Liu Qingtai can bear it, and if the three provinces and localities give it to each other, then the mountains and seas will not be stolen, and the Qing Dynasty will not have to worry about the south, and he will be sincere. As for the soldiers, the Qing Dynasty should also enjoy its benefits. Isn't it more than the long-term plan of labor, and the empty money is tens of thousands? ”

Speaking of which, the fact that the first person to read this letter on both sides will never be Zheng Zhilong on the envelope, in fact, they are tacitly acquiescing. At this moment, Liu Qingtai was mentioned in the letter, and he and Tong Guoqi glanced at each other, and soon saw the words "bargaining" in the eyes of the relatives of this sister who had just entered the palace as a concubine.

"I complained so much nonsense before, in the final analysis, I don't just want the imperial court to fulfill the promise made to his father back then, and want the territory of Fujian, Zhejiang and Guangdong, I'm sorry!"

At this moment, Tong Guoqi, who had just read the letter, almost scolded, and as far as Liu Qingtai was concerned, Zheng Chenggong's letter to the family letter was ambiguous about the surrender of the Qing Dynasty, and he also saw it all.

As for the later sentences such as "the father is mistaken in the front, how can the son be mistaken in the back", such as "the idea of fame and fame is faint, if he is a Feng woman again, it is not his original heart", and then the words "otherwise, the empty name that hangs in vain will be a real disaster, and the people are hard-working, and it is difficult for Jiangnan to be peaceful for a long time", it is nothing more than boasting of the strength of the army and threatening the Qing court to continue to fight with the Qing court on the southeast coast if he does not let him get his wish.

"Siyuan, this is a good thing, as long as he has a request from the court, it is enough for the court, isn't it?"

Liu Qingtai said this, Tong Guoqi should understand what he meant. Speaking of which, these three provinces, not to mention Fujian, Hangzhou in Zhejiang has garrisoned eight banners, and Guangdong has two feudal domains of Pingnan and Jingnan, which is no longer the situation in the second year of Longwu.

It's one thing that the local snakes won't agree, and besides, the core layer of the Qing court also lacks enough sincerity in this discussion, which is nothing more than wanting to use the peace to ease the pressure on the southeast and prevent Zheng Chenggong from merging with the Ming army in the southwest. Of course, if they can succeed in appeasement, the Zheng family's sailors and sea trade profits will also be of great benefit to the Qing court, at least they can share a little profit, which is better than Zheng Chenggong relying on this to oppose the Qing court.

"Controlling the army, we can't accept this condition, and the court won't accept it."

Tong Guoqi said this, Liu Qingtai replied "of course" as a matter of course, and then called the family member named Li De sent by Zheng Zhilong to the Zhongzuo Institute, and asked him to tell him what Zheng Chenggong said to him.

"There are many soldiers and few places, and it is difficult to place them; If the army is reduced, once the battle is launched, how can it win? ”

"It will be assigned to the troops of the three prefectures, and it will govern the coastal areas of the three provinces."

"Since he was named the Duke of Haicheng, he was a fifth-class lord, but he was only the chief military officer, and he was still under the commander, so he could not control the army."

"On the one hand, he appeased, and on the other hand, he ordered Jin Li to lead the troops into Fujian, and Shang Kexi Chen soldiers in eastern Guangdong, which seems to be a scam."

"Don't be suspicious of employing people, don't use suspicious people. The affairs of the sea are entrusted with carte blanche to be entrusted to the father, and the son is committed to the inside, and the son is to do his best outside, and the place is quiet. ”

After listening to Li De's retelling, Tong Guoqi savored the key sentences in it, and the tone was much lower than that of the letter. However, the content of this is not enough for them to decide, and it must be reported to the Qing court as soon as possible before the punishment can be made.

"Don't be in a hurry, since he talked about Jin Li, it just so happens that the Eight Banners garrison in Hangzhou has suffered a lot of damage, and he needs to go back to Hangzhou to recuperate. Now, let Jin Li go back with the army immediately, and at least make some sincerity. ”

"What about the prince of Pingnan, I heard that the troops of Kaqam are also about to arrive, if this fights, the matter of peace will be completely collapsed."

Liu Qingtai and Tong Guoqi are both the main faction of the court, and it is a matter of political performance, so naturally they should be given more consideration. However, Shang Kexi is the first prince, and the other is in Guangdong, and they are powerless to do it. Fortunately, Liu Qingtai was in his chest, and when he said to Tong Guoqi: "Then immediately go up and ask the court to give an order." As long as there are no more threats, the matter of peace negotiations can still be discussed. ”8)