Zheng Zhilong put down the letter, stood up, stood in front of the window, and pondered for a long time. Pen fun and pavilion www.biquge.info

Zheng Zhilong, whose name is Feihuang, nicknamed Yiguan, was 33 years old at the time, and at the beginning of this year, he had just been promoted from guerrilla to deputy general, which was when he was in the prime of life. This sea overlord who crisscrosses the southeast seas is tall, with a dark face, an angular face, thick eyebrows, and even if he is quiet, he has a momentum of not being angry and arrogant.

"Go quickly, pass on Zhifeng, Zhibao will come to discuss the matter." After Zheng Zhilong pondered for a long time, he ordered the guard sergeant on the side.

The sergeant hurriedly left, and after a short time, Zheng Zhifeng and Zheng Zhibao hurriedly entered the conference hall.

Zheng Zhifeng, is Zheng Zhilong's fourth brother, and with the words getting louder, he has a more resounding name, that is, Zheng Hongkui, this name is the new name he gave himself after he was admitted to the martial arts in the thirteenth year of Chongzhen.

Zheng Zhibao, Zheng Zhilong's fifth brother, the word Japanese, nickname Manger, is Zheng Zhilong's favorite younger brother.

These two people are Zheng Zhilong's closest siblings, and every time he encounters a major event, Zheng Zhilong generally likes to discuss with these two.

After the two came in, Zheng Zhilong handed Zheng Cai's letter to the two to read.

"Two brothers, what do you think of the three suggestions put forward by Li Xiao, the chief soldier of Chifeng?"

After Zheng Zhifeng and Zheng Zhibao finished reading and put the letter back on the table, Zheng Zhiyou asked.

"Big brother, Li Xiao, this guy has a long hand, and he actually came up with the idea of Taiwan, but he is really not greedy enough. This person, in the eyes of the younger brother, is to be careful. Zheng Zhibao frowned and said first.

Zheng Zhilong was silent, his inquiring eyes were staring at Zheng Zhifeng, who was pondering.

"Big brother, in my opinion, if this Chifeng commander-in-chief Li Xiao really has the heart to pay to buy our army's Taiwan base, it is okay to transfer it to him." Zheng Zhifeng pondered for a long time and said slowly.

"Oh, fourth brother, please speak."

"Big brother, in this land of Taiwan, since the early years of Chongzhen, our army has invested a lot of money in it year after year, but it has not produced much, and a lot of money has been wasted. Today, most of the 20,000 Fujian immigrants who moved there have escaped, and less than 5,000 are still farming in Taiwan. It can be seen that this land of Taiwan is like chicken ribs for our army, so if Li Xiao wants to take over, as long as the price is right, it is not that he will not transfer it to him. ”

After Zheng Zhifeng finished speaking, Zheng Zhilong's face was soothing, and before he could speak, Zheng Zhibao on the side immediately objected loudly: "Big brother, no!" ”

"Oh, why not?"

"Big brother, if Li Xiao is based in Taiwan and close to my Penghu, if he sits big in the future and competes with our army for the power of maritime trade, our army may be difficult to control!" Zheng Zhibao's face showed a worried face.

"Fifth brother, you are too careful, Zheng Cai has already said in the letter, then Li Xiao has no water master at all, but according to the land of the two counties in Shandong, the strength is still weak. Our army has nearly 20,000 soldiers and horses, and more than 2,000 sea ships, and even the Spaniards and Dutch red hairs do not dare to compete with our army. That Li Xiao, even if he occupies a remote place in Taiwan, what can he do. Zheng Zhifeng said with a disdainful face.

Zheng Zhibao muttered a few words in his mouth, but he couldn't say anything.

Seeing that Zheng Zhibao was silent, a trace of ruthlessness flashed on Zheng Zhifeng's face: "Big brother, in my opinion, this Li Xiao wants to take over the land of Taiwan occupied by our army, and he is quite anxious, but our army just sits on the ground and starts the price, so kill him well." ”

Zheng Zhilong smiled on his face, and he asked softly, "Then according to the fourth brother, how much transfer fee should be charged to Li Xiao?" “

Zheng Zhifeng said in a categorical tone: "At least two million taels of silver!" “

Zheng Zhilong gasped: "Oh, that deserted place, how much is it worth?" “

Zheng Zhifeng sneered: "Then Li Xiao, since you are so desperate to get this land, there must be a reason, if our army doesn't take the opportunity to kill him, won't we miss the opportunity to make a fortune." Moreover, although the land in Taiwan occupied by our army is deserted, it is hundreds of miles long, and together with the 5,000 immigrants and all the properties of our army in Taiwan, all of them will be handed over to him, and as long as he has 2 million taels of silver, it is not much. “

"Fourth brother, if such a high price is opened, then Li Xiao is unwilling, but what should he do?" Zheng Zhibao asked on the side.

"Hehe, this, if Li Xiao is really unwilling, you can negotiate with him again, and the deal will be negotiated." Zheng Zhifeng said with a smile.

Zheng Zhilong nodded: "Okay, take the price set by the fourth brother as the bottom line, and then transfer this Taiwan to Li Xiao." ”

He paused for a moment and asked again: "Then Li Xiao's other two suggestions, two brothers, what are their opinions?" “

"Big brother, in the eyes of brothers, it is better to do human favor to the end and send the Buddha to the west." Zheng Zhifeng blinked and said: "Then Li Xiao is willing to pay a high price of 50 taels per person and five times the salary per person to select and place craftsmen from our army's shipyard, but it also shows sincerity." If our army transfers 200 craftsmen to him, it will be 10,000 taels of silver. ”

"Big brother, fourth brother, don't you worry, then Li Xiao's naval power will rise sharply in the future, will he compete with our army at sea?" Zheng Zhibao said in a worried tone.

Zheng Zhifeng laughed: "Fifth brother, then Li Xiao is starting from scratch now, and if he wants to build a fleet of the same scale as our army, how easy it is to talk about it!" Not to mention how time-consuming and laborious it is to build a suitable sea ship, even the craftsmen given to him by our army are only helping him build ships, and in the future, Li Xiao will have to find a way to do it, but it is a sad hurdle. The fifth brother thinks like this, but he thinks too much. ”

Zheng Zhilong also sighed and said: "The fourth brother is right, I also expect that Li Xiao's sailors can only be in a state of small fights for a long time. Otherwise, he would not have so earnestly begged our army to lease ships to him to transport soldiers, displaced people, and food to Taiwan. ”

Zheng Zhibao blinked, then lowered his voice and said: "In this case, it is better to transfer those raw hands and apprentice craftsmen in our army's shipyard to him, so that Li Xiao cannot get the best craftsmen, so as to slow down his shipbuilding." ”

Zheng Zhifeng and Zheng Zhilong glanced at each other, and they both felt that Zheng Zhibao's method was good.

After all, for shipbuilding, Li Xiao is a beginner who doesn't know how to do it at all, even if he wants to fool him, Li Xiao can't tell the difference.

It's just that Zheng Zhilong thought about it for a while, and still felt that he couldn't do this.

"Two brothers, in the future, our army hopes to deal with Li Xiao for a long time, and it is definitely not just a one-shot deal with this person. Then Li Xiao, if he finds that the shipyard is slow to build and everything is wrong, he will definitely resent our army for fooling him like this, and if he does something about the price and quality of commodities because of this, our army will not gain a small profit and lose a big head. ”

When Zheng Zhilong said this, Zheng Zhifeng, Zheng Zhibao and others all nodded yes.

Zheng Zhifeng interjected: "Brother thinks very carefully, so let's do it, among these 200 shipbuilders, give him 20 experienced craftsmen, so that Li Xiao's shipyard has someone to take the lead in doing things, so that he will not lose his inch, and Li Xiao will not realize that the hands and feet of our army are not very good?" ”

Zheng Zhilong nodded in agreement, and then said; "Then Li Xiao's last suggestion said that he wanted to rent a ship from our army to transport soldiers and food for him, what do the two brothers think?"

"Well, as long as he Li Xiao can afford the price, it doesn't hurt for our army to make a promise." Zheng Zhibao said with a grin.

"The fifth brother is right, anyway, we have a lot of military ships, if we can rent these ships to Li Xiao, it will just produce benefits. As for the charter fee, it depends on how many people and materials Li Xiao wants to transport, and then it is not too late to set the price. Zheng Zhifeng also agreed.

"Yes, this rent can't be cheapened, and you have to slaughter him." A sneer crossed Zheng Zhibao's face.

"Okay, then now that everything is agreed, I think it's my brother's opinion, so I and the fourth brother will go to Chifengwei in person and settle these three things." Zheng Zhilong smiled, and then patted Zheng Zhibao on the shoulder: "After the two of us leave, everything in Penghu will be entrusted to the younger brother for the time being." ”

Zheng Zhibao said busily; "Don't worry, big brother, even if you two go, the younger brother won't make a mistake."

"Big brother, in order to save time and prevent things from changing over time, why don't you choose the craftsmen who are going to be assigned to Li Xiao, and after arriving at Chifengwei, you will hand over these craftsmen to Li Xiao. At the same time, wouldn't it be better to bring more ships and prepare to load the soldiers and displaced people arranged by Li Xiao to go south, as well as food and living utensils? ”

After Zheng Zhifeng finished saying this suggestion, Zheng Zhilong laughed: "Okay, good, the fourth brother is thoughtful and well-considered, so let's act according to your opinion." Three days later at the latest, our army will gather 50 ships with fast sailing speed and set off for Chifengwei. ”

"The foolish brother obeys the orders of the elder brother."

Three days later, 50 ships of various types with an average speed of 1.7 knots, led by Zheng Zhilong and Zheng Zhifeng, took the selected 200 craftsmen and their families, and sailed north to Chifengwei.

This speed, in the Ming Dynasty ships, can be called quite fast high speed, but compared with the current Western countries, the speed is far behind.

You know, in this Age of Discovery, the average sailing speed in the West could reach 4 knots. And that's just the full round trip, not counting the average speed of the boat with tailwinds and headwinds.

For more than 200 years, China's ocean-going world, both in terms of hull size and speed, has lagged far behind European maritime powers such as the Netherlands or Spain.

At a speed of 1.85 km/h, Zheng Zhilong's fleet can travel north at a speed of 70 to 80 kilometers per day, and it is expected to reach Chifengwei in Shandong Province in about 25 days.

After several days of driving north in the direction of Zheng Zhilong, an extremely significant event occurred in the farther Houjin.

That is, on the 11th day of the fourth lunar month of the ninth year of Chongzhen, the Qing Dynasty was officially established.

At the beginning of April, the descendants of the old slaves such as the Great Bel Daishan, Heshuo Belzil Harang, Dolgon, Duoduo, Yue Xu, Haug, Abatai, Azig, Dudu, etc., these prominent people in the Aixin Jueluo family, the ministers of Manchu, Han and Mongolia, as well as the forty-nine Baylors of the 16 Mongolian tribes of the outer vassals, took turns to persuade the Emperor Taiji of Tiancong Khan to ascend the great treasure and change the title of Khan to emperor.

Huang Taiji was very happy, and after he made a false concession, he agreed to everyone's request. Then, on the day of the eleventh day of the fourth lunar month of the ninth year of Chongzhen, Huang Taiji led the ministers to sacrifice to heaven and earth, and to be honored with the title of the emperor, and the ministers were honored as the emperor of Kuanwen Rensheng, and the original country name was abolished, and the country name was changed to the Qing Dynasty, and the original name of the tribe was Jurchen, and the name was changed to Manchuria, and the original name of the original year was abolished, and the original year name was changed to Tiancong, and the Yuan Chongde was changed from Tiancong to the first year of Chongde.

At this point, the Qing Dynasty was formally established, becoming a powerful force against the Ming Dynasty and becoming the most threatening feudal state in Northeast Asia.

Subsequently, Huang Taiji imitated the Han system, sacrificed to the mountain mausoleum, built the Tai Temple, and posthumously sealed the ancestors.

He respected the ancestor as the king of Ze, the ancestor as the king of Qing, the great-ancestor as the king of Chang, the grandfather as the king of Fu, and respected the old slave as the emperor of Chengtian Guangyun Shengde Shengong Zhaoji Liji Ren Xiaowu Emperor, the temple number is Taizu, and his mausoleum is Fuling. His mother, Meng Gu Zhezhe, is honored as the Empress of Filial Piety, Zhaoxian, Pure Virtue, Zhenshun, Chengtianyu, and Shengwu.

Next, in order to win the hearts of the people, the imperial prince talked about the military exploits of his brothers and nephews, including those powerful officials and nobles in Manchu, Han and Mongolia, and they also added officials to the knighthood.

Among them, among the Manchurian nobles, Huang Taiji canonized Dabeile Daishan as Prince Heshuoli, Belezir Harang as Prince Heshuo Zheng, Morgan Daiqing Belle Dolgon as Prince Heshuorui, Erke Chuhu Erbel Duoduo as Prince Heshuo Yu, his eldest son Haoge as Prince Heshuosu, Yue Zhi as Prince Zhishuocheng, Azig as the King of Dorowuyingjun, Dudu as Doro Anping Beyler, and Abatai as Doro Rao Yu Beyler.

Next, the Mongolian tribesmen who were friendly with Manchuria were promoted, mainly including Korqin Badali as the prince of Heshuo Tushetu, Wu Keshan as the prince of Heshuo Zhuolik, Gulun Efu Zhe as the prince of Heshuo, Butaqi as the king of Dorozasaktu County, Manzhu Xili as the king of Dorobaturu County, Naiman tribe Gunchu Batulu as the king of Dorodarhan County, his grandson Duling as the king of Doroduleng, Gulun Efubandi as the king of Doro County, and Kongol as the king of Bingtu.

In the end, the three traitorous high-ranking generals who surrendered were also crowned kings one after another. Among them, Kong Youde was named King Gongshun, Geng Zhongming was named King Huaishun, and Shang Kexi was named King Zhishun.

After the above people were divided, Huang Taiji ordered an amnesty to the world, thinking that the whole world was celebrating together.

At the end of the day when the Qing Dynasty was founded, Li Xiao paced back and forth with an anxious face outside his wife Zhu Yumei's delivery room.

Hearing his wife's painful screams from inside the room, Li Xiao outside the room sighed for a long time, but he was helpless.

In this era, there is no modern midwifery technology, and the birth of a mother depends entirely on the hands of the midwife, but the danger is much greater.

He stayed all night, until dawn, when he heard Zhu Yujiao's cry in the room getting lower and lower, and Li Xiao's mood became tighter and tighter.

Fortunately, with God's blessing, in the early morning dawn, a loud cry came into the ears of Li Xiao, who was sitting outside the room with an anxious face.

"Master Li, it's born, it's born, it's a big fat boy!"

A maid with blood stains on her body hurriedly came out of the inner room and reported the good news to Li Xiao with a happy face.

Li Xiao was overjoyed and hurriedly followed the maid inside.

Li Xiao came into the room, the midwife was carrying a basin of blood and water, and walked out of the room with a smile, and when she saw Li Xiao entering, she smiled and said: "Congratulations, congratulations, my son, my son was finally born, and both mother and child are safe." ”

Li Xiao smiled brightly and immediately said to her; "Mother-in-law works hard, see the reward of 50 taels of silver."

When the midwife heard this, she immediately smiled and left with a thousand thanks.

When he came to his wife's bed, Li Xiao saw that Zhu Yumei was pale and looked very weak, but she was still looking at the maids in a daze, hurriedly helping the baby wipe the blood and mucus on her body, and then quickly wrapped the baby into a small swaddling cloth with a clean and soft cotton cloth.

Seeing Li Xiao coming, Zhu Yu squeezed out a smile on her face and wanted to straighten up, but was supported by Li Xiao.

"Beloved wife, you just gave birth to a child, just have a good rest."

Zhu Yumei smiled and nodded, and slowly lay down, while watching Li Xiao gently pick up the little swaddling baby.

Holding this child, who weighed about seven pounds, with unwiped traces of blood on his face, but his face was quite similar to himself, looking at this little man gently smacking his pink little mouth in his arms, Li Xiao's heart was full of joy as a first-time father, and there was a strange feeling like a world away.

Traveling to this late Ming era, until now, Li Xiao finally has his own children, perhaps, his own bloodline will be passed on in this time and space forever.

Fate and death, can be said.

"Husband, have you ever thought about what to name your child?" Zhu Yujiao's voice sounded softly.

Li Xiao pondered for a long time, and said slowly and clearly: "I heard that there is a saying that hardship and hardship are successful in Yuru. Just call him Li Cheng. ”

As soon as Li Xiao finished speaking, the child in his arms suddenly let out a loud cry, and the sound shook the roof tiles, as if he was celebrating himself and finally got a good name. (To be continued.) )