In the thirteenth year of Chongzhen's reign, two major events occurred in the South China Sea, which brought great changes to the situation in the South China Sea and the entire Southeast Peninsula.

First of all, the Ming Kingdom, which has always been trapped on the mainland, produced such a demon as Yu Guozhen, at least in the eyes of Zheng Zhilong, Yu Guozhen, who was born inland rather than by the sea, is a demon, and he actually sent troops to fight two major battles with the Spaniards, first to capture Keelung, and then to conquer Luzon, uprooting the Spanish power in the South China Sea.

The second was that the Dutch gathered a large army to lay siege to Malacca, forcing the Portuguese to surrender the choke point. At the beginning, the Portuguese rushed to the hospital in a hurry, and spread rumors that the Dutch were trying to deal with Hoi An, and wanted to involve Yu Guozhen in this conflict within the European colonizers.

These two events made the Spanish and Portuguese forces insignificant in the South China Sea, and they were not even comparable to the British and French, who had just stretched out their tentacles. But the one who feels the deepest and the most stressed about these two things is Zheng Zhilong himself.

"Big brother, has it really come to this?"

"Third child, I don't want to do this either, this is all forced by someone Yu!"

In the Zheng family, Zheng Zhifeng advocated negotiating with Yu Guozhen to solve the problem, he dealt with Yu Guozhen more than once, and saw with his own eyes how Yu Guozhen's power developed from land to sea, and he had a more personal experience of Yu Guozhen's talent than Zheng Zhilong.

But Zheng Zhilong said that he was "forced" by Yu Guozhen, and he had his own reasons.

In the eighth year of Chongzhen, after Liu Xiang died, the Zheng family was the number one boss in the entire East China Sea. Even the Spaniards and the Dutch had to give face to the Zheng family, and their merchant ships also had to carry the Zheng family's banner in order to safely sail on the waterway to the Japanese Kingdom.

This flag is not hung in vain, one flag is two thousand taels of silver!

And that's not all. The Zheng family also personally went into battle and operated maritime trade, from the Wa Kingdom to the southeastern islands. There are all Zheng family's merchant ships active. Every year, the Zheng family's income is around millions of taels, just in terms of economic strength. In fact, it is stronger than Yu Guozhen ten years ago in Chongzhen!

But after the next two batches of nearly 300,000 immigrants to the Xinxiang system, things changed, Yu Guozhen had a sufficient source of troops, built a fleet, these fell second, the key is that Yu Guozhen used the profits he earned to promote the industrialization of Xinxiang and produce a large number of industrial products. The Zheng family used the profits to build manors and mansions, and bought acres of land to store slaves. Until now, Zheng Zhilong still doesn't think that he has done anything wrong, and he doesn't return to his hometown like a brocade at night. It's Yu Guozhen, didn't he run back to Xiang'an after being named Nanhai Bo, if it weren't for the thieves and other rogues who burned down his house in Xiang'an many times, I'm afraid that Xiang'an still kept his Yu family's ancestral house at this time.

This is the biggest difference between Zheng Zhilong and Yu Guozhen, Zheng Zhilong realizes that sea trade can bring huge benefits. But he was only satisfied with this, so his greatest achievement was just a middleman. Those who hope that buying and selling will have a solid foundation, just like some people in later generations thought that the financial industry was the source of wealth, when a huge storm hit, it would suddenly disappear.

Industry is always king, this is Yu Guozhen's cognition of the industry.

Zheng Zhifeng hesitated for a while. and persuaded: "Big brother, I have dealt with Nanhai Bo, and he is quite easy to speak, maybe ...... Shall I go see him again and talk to him? ”

"The third child, you have to send it when the arrow is on the string, you don't want to get involved in this matter, find a reason, you go to Jingshi first, and keep the favor between you and someone Yu, even if it is ...... Even if something happens to me, there's always room to turn back. ”

As soon as he said this, Zheng Zhifeng hadn't spoken yet, and Zheng Sen next to him couldn't help it: "Father, this is not good, we are doing a big thing, so don't think about betting on both sides, since we have decided to be the enemy of Yu Guozhen, we must concentrate all our strength, the third uncle is my father's right-hand man, at this time, how can I leave!" ”

"Elders speak, which turn can you interject!" Zheng Zhilong snorted: "Not only your third uncle, you also go to the capital!" ”

Zheng Zhifeng heard this, and understood in his heart that his brother's idea had been decided, and he was afraid that he would not turn back. And seeing that he said it so urgently, I'm afraid that the matter is imminent!

"Has my brother already done it?" He couldn't help but ask.

Zheng Zhilong shook his head and smiled: "Hugh wants to ask so much, you go back and prepare to prepare, go to Jingshi." ”

Zheng Zhifeng looked at him deeply, and then left. In any case, he is a member of the Zheng family, and the interests of the Zheng family are always above all else. He thought so, and so did Zheng Sen.

Seeing that his younger brothers and sons had retreated, Zheng Zhilong closed his eyes and rested for a while, and then laughed softly.

He did it earlier than Zheng Zhifeng imagined, but the matter was secret, Zheng Zhifeng had been in Beijing, so he didn't know about it, and he didn't get the news until he came back recently. At the beginning, Luo Jiuhe sent someone to question Zheng Zhifeng, and the matter of colluding with the Tokugawa shogunate of the Japanese kingdom was indeed true!

At the beginning of the Shimabara Rebellion, the Tokugawa shogunate was terrified, knowing that Amakusa Shiro Shiza's other identity was the son of Konishi Yukinaga's retainer, and there was even a rumor that he was the son of Konishi Yukinaga's second son!

For the Tokugawa shogunate, perhaps the biggest nightmare was that Hideyoshi's monkey subordinates avenged their old master. Moreover, Hirado was located at the northern tip of Kyushu Island and was an important front line to suppress the ambitious Shimazu family to the south, and the Tokugawa shogunate would not tolerate Amakusa Shiro as long as he had the slightest brain.

Unfortunately, the two cross-sea expeditions organized successively were destroyed by the intervention of the Xinxiang Fishery Administration Bureau and the Navy. The shogunate's navy was almost completely depleted, and not only was it no longer possible to organize large-scale cross-sea conquests, but instead it was Shiro Amakusa's navy that continued to harass the coast of Honshu, especially the "Chugoku" region and the coast of the Seto Inland Sea. Amakusa Shiro continued to destroy the farmland of the castle and plunder the population, which made the Tokugawa shogunate extremely uncomfortable.

And because of the weakening of Tokugawa's control, the powerful feudal clans began to be restless and self-contained, and the typical representative was the southernmost Shimazu family.

In addition, the Tokugawa shogunate also received news that made them feel even more panicked, and Shinxiang intended to support the remnants of my family, who had been guarding my family for a long time, and now renamed Qin Shengqin, to capture Shikoku Island, and then spy on the entire Wa country!

Therefore, after the Zheng family came to envoys, even though the two had some contradictions before, the Tokugawa shogunate still hit it off with the Zheng family, and the two sides agreed to work together to deal with Yu Guozhen.

It's just that Zheng Zhilong doesn't consciously grasp it very well, so he still has to contact the Dutch.

At that time, he was the Dutch governor in Taiwan, but Antony? Fan? Dimen, he had long coveted the Spanish territory in northern Taiwan, and also wanted to take advantage of the Spaniards' contraction of defense to seize the whole of Taiwan, and then threaten Luzon. As a result, before he could make a move, Yu Guozhen took the lead, not only seized Taiwan, but also occupied the whole of Luzon, and almost completely drove the Spaniards away from the South China Sea.

"General Shi, I have received authorization from the Governor of Batavia to negotiate further with you." At the same time that Zheng Zhilong sent his younger brother and son to Beijing, Di Men summoned Shi Fu to the city of Relan Sha on the island of Taiwan, and said solemnly: "We agree to form an alliance to deal with Nanhai Bo together, but this depends on the sincerity of the Zheng family." ”

"Previously, my general had already set up conditions, the Nanyang Islands were taken by you, and the land of the Ming Dynasty was disposed of by my general after reporting to the imperial court, and in addition, from now on, when my general's ship passed through Manraka, the taxes you took were the same as those of the countries of Europa." Shi Fu said very arrogantly.

"This condition is too harsh, and the condition does not say anything about the disposal of Dayuan Island, there are too many Ming people who have migrated on Dayuan Island, which has affected the relationship between our two families."

"Dayuan Island was originally my Ming land, and there is no dispute about this matter." Shi Fu sneered: "Nanhai Bo can capture the chicken coop, he can capture you, Relancha, Governor, you have to figure out first, my general and Nanhai Bo are ministers in the same palace, if the Zheng family and Nanhai Bo join forces to attack, can you defend it?" ”

This is a naked threat, Shi Fu has been following Zheng Zhilong for a long time, and naturally knows that for these Ouyi, if you speak tactfully, they will treat you as weak, and only if you go over, the other party will refuse and welcome.

"I see what you mean, since that's the case...... Xinhang must belong to us, and in addition, the east side of Dayuan Island must belong to us, otherwise, we will not be able to deal with the company. ”

The Dutch East India Company was responsible for the colonies in the Far East, and both the Viceroy of Batavia and the Viceroy of Geranza were appointed by the East India Company. After Dimon said this, the two sides reached an agreement, discussed some specific details, and Shi Fu left triumphantly.

"Your Excellency, is it really like this to give up the company's interests to these barbarians?" After Shi Fu left, the adjutant asked behind Di Men, "With our strength, we can completely compete with the earl of the Ming Kingdom on our own." ”

"No, no, Basten, although what you said makes sense, it is not well thought out, you must know that now is a rare opportunity for the company, an opportunity to dominate the entire Southeast Asia!" A cold light flashed in Dimen's eyes: "Ming Nanhai Bota now seems to be the strongest in the entire Southeast Asia, but in fact, his battle line is too long, from North Korea, Japan, to Dayuan Island, to Indochina Peninsula, and then to the Philippines...... He is too greedy, and if he buries his head in development for another ten years, there will be no room for us to interfere in Southeast Asia. As for the little benefit that is now given to Nikolai as an official, what is it, the agreement is used to tear up, and after eradicating the company's worst enemy, it will be Nikolai's turn to be an official! ”

"Your Excellency, I have heard that Nanhaibo has tens of thousands of soldiers, why don't we try to cooperate with him, perhaps...... Can we negotiate what we want? ”

"Basten, it seems that you are not familiar with this nobleman of the Ming Kingdom, but don't look at him with the same eyes as we look at those stupid Ming officials, he is also an iron-fisted and cold-blooded figure, and his vision is farther than the vast majority of bureaucrats in the Ming Kingdom. In him, negotiations will never take advantage, this is not what I said, but His Excellency the Governor of Batavia said in his letter. His Excellency the Governor met the only survivor of the city of Manila, the lucky Father Juan, God blessed him to return to Spain alive, and the arrogant Spaniard heard the bad news! ”

At this, Dimon laughed happily. (To be continued)