Chapter 378: Zheng Zhilong

Zheng Zhilong accepted Zhao'an and came to Beijing, one reason was that he originally had the intention of recruiting An, and the other was forced by pressure, the emperor's sentence that if he didn't recruit An, he would fight to the death, spending millions of taels of silver to build warships every year, and to reproduce the scale of the Sanbao eunuch fleet back then, this sentence is not to say how much Zheng Zhilong was scared, but it just made Zheng Zhilong, who was originally ready to accept Zhao'an, even more sincere and fearful, and when he came to Beijing, he was even more uneasy, and the pressure on him from the emperor was much greater than he originally expected.

When I entered Beijing, I didn't see the emperor, but I was dragged around by one of his "fellow countrymen", not only went to the "Glass Street" that is the most worth seeing in Beijing, but also visited the manufacturing factory of "Made in Ouchi".

If the feeling of the glass street to him is luxury, then the feeling of the "Ouchi Made" manufacturing field is obviously a threat of death, but when he saw the scene of thousands of people working at the same time and making hundreds of thousands of sets of cotton clothes every year, Zheng Zhilong was not only shocked, but only admired the emperor's ambition.

Before coming to the capital, Zheng Zhilong also made some assumptions and predictions about coming to the capital, expected to give money to various powerful and advantageous big people, expected to give gifts, and even inquired about who is the most powerful and whose words are the most effective, but when he arrived in the capital, Zheng Zhilong never expected that a "fellow countryman" would come to receive him, and what is even more incredible is that this is actually a tanhua, a big reader, if a literati receives him, although Zheng Zhilong is not very adaptable, but he also recognizes, But it's strange that this "fellow countryman" of the reader is so enthusiastic about himself, which is even closer than his own uncle, which makes Zheng Zhilong puzzled, when did the reader look down on them like this?

……

The Imperial City's Liquid Pool.

Yang Gengai sat in a pavilion by the water, dressed in regular clothes, and was quietly fishing. Yesterday, Zheng Zhilong had already been discussed with the ministers, so Yang Gengai met with Zheng Zhilong in advance.

Zheng Zhilong, under the leadership of the little eunuch, entered the imperial city in fear, but not into the Forbidden City, but on the edge of the lake in the Forbidden City.

From a distance, I saw a person guarding a person, with extraordinary momentum, and he was quietly fishing.

Before Zheng Zhilong came, he inquired about the general appearance of the emperor, and when he saw it from a distance, he knew that person must be the emperor.

"Grass people Zheng Zhilong knock long live my emperor, long live long live...... Zheng Zhilong knelt on the ground very obediently, pestle his head on the ground, and bowed three times and knocked on Dali.

Yang Gengai turned his head and looked. Quite a young man, very sturdy, powerful, swarthy, from the face can not see that this is a murderous, predatory pirate leader, to say that the face of the lord, Yang Reform has been the emperor for so long, it is really rare, it may be that his momentum is too strong, others dare not show the fierce side in front of him.

"Get up." Yang Gai said with a little smile.

"Grass people, thank you, Your Majesty Longen." Zheng Zhilong stood up with a little fear, this emperor is too young, but what is inconsistent with youth is that he has a pair of eyes that can see through people. Zheng Zhilong felt that his instinctive fear of the emperor's eyes was not the fear of being forced to look at by wild beasts, but a sense of vicissitudes, an eye that could see through, see through the future, and see this life and the next life.

Zheng Zhilong swallowed his saliva, the pressure on him from the emperor's eyes was too great, he Zheng Zhilong had been walking south and north for so long, and he had never seen eyes that could make people feel fear from the bottom of their hearts.

Yang Gengai looked at Zheng Zhilong carefully, he is quite honest, but a few years later, this is the overlord who rules the China Sea, counting, he is also young and promising, and in the next ten years, his son Zheng Chenggong will appear as a national hero to save the Ming Dynasty, thus creating a Zheng dynasty, which is a person who has to be mentioned in the history books. When it comes to Zheng Chenggong, I have to mention his father Zheng Zhilong, a figure who can influence the pattern of the late Ming Dynasty and the historical process of the late Ming Dynasty.

"You are Zheng Zhilong?" The silk thread on the fishing rod is still hanging in the water, and the float is also quiet, rippling slightly under the breeze.

"Back to Your Majesty, the grass people are Zheng Zhilong, a nickname and an official." Zheng Zhilong didn't dare to look at the emperor at all, just stared at his toes. The pressure on the emperor was too great. Zheng Zhilong had never felt so scared.

"Well, I know, I've heard you can say a few things, don't you?" Yang Gengai asked with a smile. ,

"Back to Your Majesty, the grass people do know several words, I know the official dialect of the Ming Dynasty, Hokkien dialect, Japanese dialect, and Franc machine dialect...... Zheng Zhilong said all the things he could say.

"Hahaha...... Talent, talent" Yang Reform laughed, and at the same time embarrassed, this is a talent who can speak four or five languages, even if it is put aside in the twenty-first world, it is also a talent, and it is definitely a talent who mixes very well, look at this age, only in his twenties, Yang Reform thinks about himself, when he crossed over, he was also in his twenties, but unfortunately, he even learned an English for N years, and he didn't learn it. Successful people have excels, and that's right.

Zheng Zhilong lowered his head, not knowing how to answer, and he didn't know what the emperor meant.

"I heard that you worked as a messenger for the Dutch?" Yang continued to ask.

The sweat on the tip of Zheng Zhilong's nose came down, in the mainstream concept of the Ming Dynasty, Shiyi was definitely a shameful thing, and it was definitely a thing that could be criticized and written.

"Back to Your Majesty, the grass people did not have food and clothing in their early years, and they did work as a general manager for the Dutch." Zheng Zhilong didn't know why the emperor knew about his past, these things, only a few people knew.

"Hehe, I heard that you also did something for the Dutch, and helped the Dutch capture my Daming ship?" Yang asked again.

"Poof", Zheng Zhilong knelt on the ground, and kept kowtowing: "Your Majesty, the grass people were young and ignorant when they were young, so they would do such stupid things, and now they understand, they don't dare to fight the Ming people anymore, Your Majesty, the grass people don't dare anymore." "Zheng Zhilong was scared half to death, could it be that the emperor wanted his head?

"Get up, although I know, but I don't plan to trouble you, hehe......" Yang Gai laughed a few times, those people have never paid a penny of taxes to themselves, why should they care about them?

Zheng Zhilong's clothes were already soaked with sweat in just a while.

"I've heard that you've been to quite a few places? Wa Kingdom? I've been to Nanyang, haven't you? Yang continued.

Zheng Zhilong has calmed down, and the emperor knows everything about him so clearly, which makes him feel scared from the bottom of his heart, and that kind of gaze that sees through everything is really panicking.

"Back to Your Majesty, the grass people have been to the Wa Kingdom, to the South Seas, and to Manila." Zheng Zhilong replied 1510.

Yang Gengai secretly made a comparison, he has been abroad, he can speak four or five languages, he is still a successful businessman, and he is also the leader of an armed organization, this guy, how to count, is also an elite, even by the standards of the 21st century, he is definitely a successful person.

"I heard that you married a Japanese woman and gave birth to a son, right?" Yang continued to ask.

Zheng Zhilong had a feeling that he had been stripped naked, and when he showed the emperor's eyes, he had no secrets.

The tip of Zheng Zhilong's nose sweated again, and said: "Back to Your Majesty, Caomin did marry a woman from the Wa Kingdom, but it cannot be said that she is from the Wa Kingdom, but can only be said to be living in the Wa Kingdom, and his ancestor is still my Da Ming people, and the son of the Cao Min is indeed four years old." "Today's Ming Dynasty is more American than the United States in the 21st century, and it considers itself to be the center of the world, and it considers itself to be the Celestial Empire.

"Yes, what is Madame's name? Did the son get a name? Have you ever wanted to bring your wife and children to my Daming to live? After all, it is inconvenient to live and raise in the land of barbarians. Yang continued to ask.

"Back to Your Majesty, the grass people are cheap Uchida Chuan clan, the son is named Sen, the forest of the forest trees, the grass people do have the intention of taking their wives and children to Daming, but the correspondence remains the same, so it hasn't been done for a while." Zheng Zhilong lowered his head, did not dare to look at the emperor, and carefully answered the emperor's question.

Yes, his sons are four years old, that is, Zheng Chenggong is four years old, Yang Reform pondered, should Zheng Chenggong also be brought under his own hands, this is a national hero, no matter what, you can't let go of this opportunity.

Yang Gai pondered for a while, and said: "That's it, send someone to take them to Daming as soon as possible, they are always in the barbarian land, seeing that the child is about to start enlightenment, isn't it delaying the child to stay in the barbarian land?" Yang Gengai decided to shoot at the future national heroes, but now that the child is still young, he is not too eager to bring it to his side to cultivate, and when he is five or six years old and begins to enlighten, it is time for him to start cultivating a national hero.

“…… The grass people obeyed. Zheng Zhilong's heart was pounding, and without thinking too much, he agreed. ,

"Yiguan, since you are running business at sea, what do you think of business at sea?" Yang continued to ask.

"Back to Your Majesty...... Maritime business is promising, but the risks of maritime trade are also extremely high, and even the ship is often buried at the bottom of the sea. Zheng Zhilong thought about it, paused for a while, and explained to the emperor that Zheng Zhilong was afraid that he would be slow to explain and the emperor would not be satisfied.

"How big is it? Yiguan, since you have also run business and are familiar with the business at sea, then I will test you, how much business do you think I can do in the waters around Daming every year? "Yang Reform is ready to see if this Zheng Zhilong is honest or dishonest.

Zheng Zhilong lowered his head, his whole body was tense, and he was afraid in his heart, in addition to being afraid of the imperial power, he was also afraid of the emperor's eyes, he thought for a while, and said: "Back to Your Majesty, my business on the Daming Sea, the grass people are really hard to estimate, I only know that it is very big." Zheng Zhilong's sweat fell from his face one by one and dripped to the ground.

"Can't estimate? In this case, I ask you, if you control my Daming Sea, how much can you collect from this every year. Yang Reform pressed forward step by step, staring at Zheng Zhilong and asked.

Zheng Zhilong was very flustered, and inadvertently glanced up at the emperor, seeing that the emperor was looking at himself with the kind of gaze that could see through everything, Zheng Zhilong felt uncomfortable, and the only remaining luck in his heart was completely gone, the emperor can investigate himself so clearly, can he hide the affairs at sea from the emperor?

"Back to Your Majesty, this is a major matter of the imperial court, and the grass people are really hard to estimate...... But ......" Zheng Zhilong gritted his teeth and decided to tell the truth, he was afraid to show the emperor now.

“…… However, it is still easy to get a tap of two or three million taels of silver a year,...... It's not impossible to have more...... "Zheng Zhilong gritted his teeth and said, how big the maritime trade is, he can naturally estimate it, as for the tap, just get a little tap, there is also a lot of money, two or three million taels of silver, he said lightly, he was afraid that the emperor would be too interested in this and make trouble for himself, but he didn't dare to say too low, for fear that the emperor would be dissatisfied with himself and cause death.

"Two or three million taels of silver?" Yang Gengai pondered for a while, and there was a big difference from his ideal number, but, thinking about it, this number was already more than twice that of the salt class, and it was not a lot.

"Hmm......" Yang snorted noncommittally.

Zheng Zhilong secretly celebrated, the emperor didn't get to the bottom of this matter, if he really wanted to pay a tribute of two or three million taels of silver every year, then he would really be blind.

"Yiguan, since you have done the general affairs of the Dutch, you must also know the Dutch?" Yang Gengai remembered his other question and asked.

"Back to Your Majesty, this grass man is not boasting, he really knows a lot, and if he knows the roots, he can be regarded as knowing the roots." Zheng Zhilong saw that the emperor was not entangled in the matter of the silver, so he was relieved and answered this question easily.

"And in your opinion, how about this Dutchman?" Yang asked Gengai.

"Back to Your Majesty, the Dutch look weird, fierce, as ugly as the Yaksha in the sea, but for the sea deeds, they are very proficient, it is said that their home country is in the land of the Franc machine, where from my Daming, there are tens of thousands of miles away, they dare to cross the sea to our Daming, it can be seen that they are extremely proficient in the affairs of the sea, the grass people say a big disrespectful word, the grass people many of the sea tricks, are learned from them." Zheng Zhilong didn't dare to hide the emperor's questions in the slightest, what to say, when he thought of the emperor's eyes that saw through his past and future, Zheng Zhilong's heart palpitated inexplicably.

"Oh, yes, I think so too, Yiguan, who do you think is superior and inferior between my Ming warship and the Dutch warship? Who's better? Yang Gengai asked.

Zheng Zhilong thought for a while and said, "Back to Your Majesty, I don't know if Your Majesty wants to listen to the truth or listen to lies?" ”

"Hehe, of course it's true, just say it, I won't blame you." Yang Reform said with a smile, looking at this overlord who crisscrossed the coast of China in front of him, Yang Reform felt very interesting, the ancient imperial power was still very weighty.

"Then the grass people said bluntly, Your Majesty, the warships of our dynasty, the same number of ships, will definitely not be able to beat the Dutch warships, their warships are all battleships built purely for battle, they pay attention to fast, ruthless, fierce, they often only use a few warships to block a large area of the sea, so, don't look at them The Dutch only have a few warships off the coast of my Daming, but they are also a ruthless character who claims to be the king and hegemon......" Zheng Zhilong felt that he had said the wrong thing after speaking, and he should not be called a king in front of the emperor. ,

Yang Reform nodded, that's right, the Western warships at this time, are indeed better than the warships of the Ming Dynasty, not to mention anything else, the Dutch can gain a firm foothold in the waters of East Asia with a few warships, and continue to make trouble, it can be seen that their reliance, the warships, are indeed higher than the Ming Dynasty, of course, this is also related to the fact that the Ming Dynasty did not have an official maritime development, if the Ming Dynasty rebuilt its maritime power, the Dutch would not be enough.

Zheng Zhilong secretly glanced at the emperor, and when he saw the emperor nodding solemnly, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief in his heart.

"Yiguan, if you are asked to fight the Dutch, do you have a chance of winning?" Yang asked Gengai.

Zheng Zhilong was sweating, and in just a moment, he had a fierce conflict in his heart, and said: "Back to Your Majesty, the grass people have little chance of winning, if they are in the near sea, the ministers rely on a large number of people, and the ants are attached to the siege, maybe there is a five or five chance of winning, if it is in the far sea, then the grass people's chances of winning are even lower, I am afraid that it is only two or three percent......" Zheng Zhilong still told the truth, originally wanted to brag about it, but thinking about those deep eyes, Zheng Zhilong changed his words again.

Yang Reform nodded again, Zheng Zhilong did not lie to himself, if according to history, Zheng Zhilong has been folded several times in the hands of other pirates and the Dutch even after Zhao'an, but with the Ming Dynasty on his back, he can recover quickly, and he can fight again from the beginning, which is quite a bit of a repeated defeat.

Zheng Zhilong secretly glanced at the emperor again, saw the emperor nodding solemnly, knowing that he had passed another level, suddenly the emperor's eyes looked over, and he was so frightened that he hurriedly dodged and looked at the ground.

"Yiguan, I know all these things you said, I asked you just to test your honesty or dishonesty, and I am quite satisfied with your answer today." Yang Gengai praised it slightly.

Zheng Zhilong's heart finally calmed down, and he thought to himself, the emperor is just like this, it's still very easy to pass, after all, he is too young and doesn't know much about outside things

"Official, have you heard of the Sea King?" Yang Reform said again.

"The Sea King?" Zheng Zhilong was beaming with pride in his heart, and suddenly heard about the Sea King, and the little bit of pride he was scared of, the emperor even knew the most advanced warship on the side of the Franc Machine? So what else is there not to know? Zheng Zhilong's complacent mind was gone, he thought that he would definitely be more than a step above the emperor in terms of understanding overseas, but he didn't expect that the emperor even knew about it.

"Well, the Sea King, a giant battleship, with hundreds of cannons......" Yang Gengai further woke up.

Zheng Zhilong swallowed his saliva and said: "Back to Your Majesty, the grass people have heard those Yi people say, but it is said that it is also a legend, it is said that Yi people are a country, ready to build this kind of giant warship, in order to dominate the sea, I heard that the country over there is a lot of sea battles, and they attach great importance to things at sea, so they have invested a lot of money in the battleship to ......, but I also have treasure ships in the court, if compared with treasure ships, they are nothing......" Zheng Zhilong's little careful thought, as the conversation deepened, it was gone.

"Oh, you're also optimistic about the strength of the Sea King? Now, I am building this kind of warship, first I am going to build one to see the effect, if it is good, I am also going to build a few more, even dozens, in addition to the giant ship of the Sea King, there are also slightly smaller warships, I am building ......" Yang Gai revealed his news.

Zheng Zhilong's forehead, the tip of his nose, and his neck were all sweaty, his head was lowered, he was bent over, and he was terrified in his heart, and the emperor's words came back to his heart, "I take out one million taels of silver every year to build a warship...... It seems that this emperor is not joking.

Yang Gengai looked at the frightened Zheng Zhilong, and said with a smile: "Yiguan, now that you have accepted Zhao'an, hehe, it is very likely that it will be my Ming Dynasty's official army in the future, and I may return those warships to you......"

Zheng Zhilong felt that something was pressing on his throat, and his whole body was already trembling slightly, and when he heard the emperor say this, his mind was a lot calmer.

"The grass people are sincerely attached, willing to cut through thorns and thorns for Your Majesty, willing to drive out the Yi people for Your Majesty, and return me a peace on the Ming Sea" Zheng Zhilong's heart has stabilized slightly, and he no longer has as much thought as he did when he first entered Beijing, it seems that the emperor is very shrewd, and he is afraid that he will not be able to please such an emperor, so it is better to follow the emperor and see what he can do.