Is Zheng Zhilong trustworthy?

Liu Jun sat alone in the study, savoring a glass of fine red wine, while asking himself in his heart. During this time, Liu Jun has been observing Zheng Zhilong and sent someone to secretly probe the details of the Zheng family.

He found many things that were not rumored to be, such as the fact that the Zheng family actually only had fifty sea-going ships, doing trade from Japan to Taiwan and the South Seas, and making a profit of about 26.7 million yuan a year. In addition, he also did inter-coastal trade, and also collected protection fees for merchant ships at sea, although a ship charged 2,000 taels, but not by the ship, but by the ship, and the money was collected to support the flag, and a flag could be used for a year. This protection fee is not recorded in the accounts of 10 million yuan a year, and there are only a few hundred large merchant ships in the southeast sea of China every year.

However, Zheng Zhilong's family background is indeed very thick.

But this tens of millions of family funds were mostly obtained by inheriting Li Dan's family business, as well as when he robbed the sea with Yan Siqi and others. Now Zheng Zhilong is mainly engaged in sea trade, and he grabs less, but he also earns millions a year. Coupled with the old capital accumulated back then, Zheng's strength is very strong.

In other words, the Zheng family has successfully whitewashed himself and become a general of the imperial court, and his brothers have also been recruited. He established a luxurious villa mansion in his hometown in Fujian, and became the most successful official and businessman from a pirate.

Zheng's business in Fujian is also very good, both with the official and the business is very successful, it is indeed calling for wind and rain. He had more than 30,000 men under his command, both as business associates and as soldiers in his army.

This time, he went south to the Zheng clan and actually got a lot of benefits like him. Zheng Zhilong was promoted, and all his subordinates were also promoted, a pirate who had become a naval admiral has now become a naval admiral, and his soldiers and horses have also been organized into economic control troops, and two naval fleets have been formed.

Although he lost thousands of men and sunk many ships in the battle with the Dutch, he also gained five Dutch ships and thousands of Dutch cannons. For the Zheng clan's fleet, the strength has increased exponentially. It turned out that Zheng's fleet had few small cannons, but now that they got this batch of cannons, their strength immediately soared.

Not to mention, he also got a lot of money and goods, and after the withdrawal of the Netherlands and Spain from Taiwan, he will get a greater share of trade between China and Japan in the future.

With the current situation, give Zheng Zhilong a few more years, and Zheng's strength will once again reach a qualitative leap.

Liu Jun was thinking. Is it right to do it yourself?

After all, his center of gravity is in the Jingxiang area, and he can't control the southeast coast, will this Zheng Zhilong lose control by then? Liu Jun didn't want to take Zheng Zhilong into his own, but he didn't want Zheng Zhilong to become his opponent when he was strong.

The trade-off is a question.

But Liu Jun thought about it carefully, and cooperating with Zheng Zhilong was also of great benefit to him. Not to mention that with the help of his fleet this time, he was able to defeat the Spanish and Dutch, and only then did he get these battleship cannons and many Western artisan gunners and mercenaries, as well as a large amount of goods.

And from a distance. As soon as this Daming East India Company was established, Liu Jun would also be able to share a lot of benefits from it. If the Ming East India Company was established, it would monopolize trade with Japan, if nothing else. That's at least a few million dollars a year. This will be a golden cow, not to mention, after the establishment of this company, Liu Jun and those wealthy businessmen in the southeast will also form common interests. I can get his support in the future.

Moreover, after the establishment of Liu Jun's bank, these southeastern maritime silk merchants and so on are its biggest customers.

Maybe I should keep my hand first. Stationing a troop of troops in Taiwan?

But as soon as this thought rose, Liu Jun quickly hesitated again. His base camp is in Jingxiang, and putting a group of soldiers and horses in Taiwan is beyond the reach of the whip? If you really want to do something, you can't react.

That's it, even if the Zheng family is really uncontrollable by then, at that time, it doesn't matter, and the investment has already been doubled. Liu Jun retracted his thoughts, things still have to come step by step, now Zheng Zhilong is his ally, the advantages of cooperation between the two sides outweigh the disadvantages, this is enough, and I don't want to go so far in the future.

However, this place in Taiwan is really worth operating.

While it's still there, let's sweep up those barbaric Shengbo for He Tengjiao, if you want to be the king in Taiwan, it's impossible.

The King of Big Belly, the Han immigrants in Taiwan called him the King of Fanzai. Alami, the Taiwanese natives call him the King of the Day. The alliance composed of dozens of villages and communities of several ethnic groups such as the Babula and Bazehai tribes, and some Hongya tribes, occupies the Taichung area in the initial stage of a tribal state.

However, although he is the king, it is only the size of dozens of villages, and even the attack of a few hundred Dutch people cannot be stopped.

To deal with such a small tribe, it is enough for Liu Jun to directly send a division of soldiers and horses. However, in order to play a role in deterring Taiwan's natives, Liu Jun specially mobilized the nine-headed bird to come to an all-army march and held an armed parade.

It can also be regarded as an armed exercise after the training of the battalions during this period.

Although it was a few small villages, Liu Jun still asked the newly established Hydra Staff Department to study carefully and make a plan to send troops. The General Staff Headquarters immediately dispatched its subordinate intelligence office to collect intelligence in the Taichung area, draw up a map, and then transmit it back to the General Staff Headquarters.

On the basis of the information obtained, the Operations Department of the General Staff then formulates the route of the march, the supply plan and the battle plan.

One by one, Liu Jun didn't allow them to be hasty. In Liu Jun's words, good military literacy is cultivated bit by bit.

Although everyone was slanderous, no one dared to ignore Liu Jun's order.

When the General Staff Department was gathering intelligence and formulating plans, Liu Jun also convened an operational meeting for the officers of various departments, asking them to report on the morale and health of the soldiers under their belt, and at the same time allowing the officers to express their opinions on the combat mission. In the end, the operational plan of the General Staff came out and was brought to the operational meeting for discussion.

After the general staff's battle plan and backup plan were discussed, revised and approved, Liu Jun began to arrange the various battle groups and select generals.

Liu Jun no longer simply transferred out the battalions, but transferred several troops of different arms together to form several battle groups. So that each battle group can independently undertake a regional combat mission and complete a campaign.

In addition to the naval division troops, Liu Jun divided the rest of his nearly 20,000 people into three battle groups, each with nearly 8,000 people under its jurisdiction and an artillery regiment under its jurisdiction. A cavalry division, plus a baggage division, and five infantry divisions.

Each battle group temporarily appoints a commander with a command headquarters and a general staff, who command the entire battle group.

"Take out your spirit, this time, we want all the natives to be intimidated by our Ming military might, so that they can submit to our king from now on. For those who do not obey the king, such as King Fanzai, we must resolutely crack down, but for those who are willing to surrender. Be magnanimous. In addition, it is strictly forbidden to harm those people, and it is not allowed to steal their property, in the future, they are all our Ming people. ”

Liu Jun also gave an order to all ministries that every time they passed through a Fanren village community, they should carefully survey their population and ethnic groups, as well as their territory and village boundaries, etc., and also have to let the leaders of Namu village community sign and sign these things that have been investigated. Then carved into an inscription, the tree is in the middle of the village.

For those who are willing to submit, comfort them and give them some food and clothing. Help them see a doctor for free and check their health. But for those who do not obey the law of indoctrination, they should properly show their military might and teach them a lesson.

The purpose of sending troops this time is to make the people of Taiwan dare not come nonsense for at least 30 years.

Incidentally. Liu Jun also asked them to trade with the local people whenever they went. Take silver coins, salt, cloth, etc., and exchange them for their deerskins, horns, gold, sulfur, pearls, jade, and so on. Transactions are always the most communicative.

Liu Jun led the army to set off in three routes, the left and right routes respectively along the coast of Taiwan to the north, while the middle route went directly north in the central part. At the same time, Liu Jun left a small number of men and horses to garrison in Dayuan, and informed Zheng Zhilong that he would lead the fleet to intercept the Dutch merchant fleet, and then sail to Keelung to wait for him.

Tainan and Taipei are hundreds of miles away, and Liu Jun plans to spend half a month to take this trip and sweep it well.

"We have properly registered the territorial boundaries of the various villages and tribes, and we will use this as proof in the future. The land belonging to those tribes and villages belonged to them, but the land that was not registered belonged to the imperial court. In the future, when the imperial court immigrants came to Taiwan, they distributed these lands to the immigrants. ”

"If you want to cultivate the territory of the natives, you need to buy or exchange it, and you must not encroach on it without reason, so as to avoid disputes."

He Tengjiao agreed with Liu Jun's arrangement.

"As long as the Hou Ye can make a covenant with the village communities and draw a clear line, then the lower officials will definitely abide by it in the future."

At the beginning of December of the twelfth year of Chongzhen, the Forbidden City of Beijing.

In the Qianqing Palace, Chongzhen was discussing with Mei Zhihuan and Li Changgeng.

"Two gentlemen, I have good news for you, after the Hou of Zhennan recruited the Spaniards entrenched in the north of Taiwan, he moved to the south of Taiwan a few days ago. The Dutchmen entrenched there are still trying to resist our might, and guess what? ”

Mei Zhihuan looked at the emperor with his eyebrows fluttering, and knew that this must be good news. In fact, he actually knew about the battle situation of the great officers before the emperor. After Liu Jun left Beijing, he kept in touch with him, and he basically received a letter every two or three days.

The Battle of Penghu, the Battle of Dayuan, the Battle of the Siege, and several major battles were fought very fiercely. In particular, when he saw from the letter that Liu Junyu reported that the warships of the Hongyi were actually more than 20 zhang long, and the mainmast was as high as more than 10 zhang, they had several layers of gun decks, and a battleship had more than 100 cannons, all of which were 3,000 to 7,000 jin of giant cannons, which were far more powerful than the Hongyi cannons.

When he heard Liu Jun say that two eighteen-pound guns could collapse a wall several feet high and thick with only 100 shots, Mei Zhihuan was indeed quite shocked, especially when he heard that the long cannon on the Hongyi ship could bombard twelve or thirteen miles away with one shot, not an exaggeration, but really able to hit twelve or thirteen miles away, Mei Zhihuan's hands trembled in shock.

And when Liu Jun told him in the letter that they had captured nearly 3,000 cannons of various types from the Dutch and the British, as well as from the Spaniards, he was even more shocked and almost lost his breath.

Chongzhen walked around there excitedly, his voice raising an octave.

"Two gentlemen, do you know that Zhennanhou first defeated Spain and then the Netherlands in Taiwan, and one of them also intervened and went home with a big defeat. Do you know that the Marquis of Zhennan recovered Taiwan, captured thousands of Hongyi, and captured more than a dozen warships, some of which had more than 100 cannons, all of which were Hongyi cannons of several catties, which were stronger than our Hongyi cannons. ”

"This Zhennanhou is really unexpected everywhere, it's simply my Huo Quai, my Wei Qing, my Li Jing and Li Ji. Oh, and there is good news, Zhennanhou also seized a lot of Hongyi's commercial goods, and it is estimated that he can get two or three million taels of silver after the auction. ”

Before that, Chongzhen actually didn't know anything about Taiwan. And now, Chongzhen is lying on the turf every day, looking at the location of Taiwan.

Zhennanhou also said that he would set up a special trade zone in Taiwan, saying that it would be operated here in the future, and it would bring hundreds of thousands of taels of silver to the imperial court every year. He also asked the imperial court to allow immigrants to Taiwan, saying that if it was developed, it would be possible to settle tens of millions of people to settle in the fields, and that the grain cultivated in the reclaimed fields would be able to supply tens of millions of people, and that it would become a new granary for the imperial court. ”

Chongzhen couldn't stop being excited, walking around and talking.

"Two gentlemen, Zhennanhou also said that he wants to ask Spain and the Netherlands for reparations, what do you think about this matter?"

Mei Zhihuan glanced at Li Changgeng, and then replied, "Your Majesty, the minister thinks that the Marquis of Zhennan knows the situation best in this matter, and it is better for such matters to be handled by the Marquis of Zhennan, and the minister believes that the Marquis of Zhennan should be able to handle it properly." However, His Majesty still reminded Zhennanhai at the moment that the affairs of the Southeast China Sea should be stopped in moderation, and it would be good to recover Taiwan. As for the matter of compensation, as long as the people are willing to make appropriate compensation, it is not practical to really ask them for tens of millions of dollars, it is better to expose the past as soon as possible, and talk about the matter of trade and mutual market, so that they can live in harmony in the future and achieve win-win and mutual benefit. ”

Li Changgeng also nodded, "Shoufu Lao Cheng said seriously, Zhennanhou will go south for a long time, and he will urge him to do a good job in the southeast as soon as possible, and then lead the army back to Hubei, rest and prepare, in preparation for the expedition next summer." ”

"The two gentlemen are right, Hubei is also inseparable from Zhennanhou, and the matter of bonds is also very important, as well as cleaning up Tuntian, training the Hunan New Army, etc., hey, I found that Zhennanhou is inseparable everywhere. Gentlemen, why didn't you teach me a few of these good students in the first place? Hahaha! ”

Chongzhen laughed for a while, and walked in the hall with his hands behind his back, "The Marquis of Zhennan tried a small knife in the southeast this year, and he beat a group of Hongyi to the ground and begged to surrender, and when he leads the army to conquer Liao next year, he will definitely be able to play a triumphant song again!" (To be continued......)

PS: Thank you AK12008, LKSOS, XAVIER11, and Matryoshka for your support. I've had a cold these days, and I'm not in any state, hey