The meeting with Liu Mao did not achieve the expected goal, but after all, he did not see Liu Zeqing, who had always been hidden, which made Zheng Hongkui feel very uncomfortable.

Shortly after Zhu Ping'an got married, that is, after Zheng Hongkui and Zheng Sen returned to Fujian, Liu Zeqing sent a messenger to find Zheng Zhilong, the head of the Zheng family, and said that he would join forces with the Zheng family to regain the lost Dengzhou.

Liu Zeqing and Zhu Ping'an are on the verge of becoming a fire and water in Shandong, which is obvious in the eyes of many people. Zhu Ping'an ran Dengzhou, and in less than half a year, he cleared up the opposition voices, and took care of this territory like an iron bucket, so that Liu Zeqing could not insert needles and splash water, and he had the name of Shandong General Army, but it was in vain.

Originally, everyone thought that only after the Huguang War ended and Liu Zeqing returned to Shandong, would the two clash head-on. But what I didn't expect was that even though Liu Zeqing was far away on the front line in Huguang, he still had his brains on Zhu Ping'an and Dengzhou.

As the head of the Zheng family, Zheng Zhilong also did not expect that Liu Zeqing would send people all the way to Fujian to seek his help. Shandong has always been one of the main channels for smuggling trade, but because of years of war, the trade volume is far less than that of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Guangzhou, and Fujian.

But Liu Zeqing analyzed the situation very clearly, the rapid rise of Dengzhou indirectly affected the Zheng family's business, from this point of view, he sought the Zheng family's alliance prepared. also, so he hit it off with Zheng Zhilong and Zheng Sen.

With the Zheng Jiashui Division as the main force, raided Dengzhou Harbor and Weihai Weijun Harbor, of course. Zheng's sailors wanted to pretend to be pirates and plundered Dengzhou on a large scale. After that, Liu Zeqing marched the troops remaining in Shandong into Dengzhou in the name of resistance, and uprooted Zhu Ping'an's forces from both the sea and land. The plan is seamless.

After the two joined forces to take Dengzhou, the Zheng family had a foothold in the north, and the benefit was that Weihai Weijun Port was transformed into a de facto private port for the Zheng family, and there was also half of the share of the trade area. Liu Zeqing has no interest in Weihaiwei, let alone any reorganization of the Denglai Sailor, all he wants is the cornucopia of Dengzhou and the trade zone.

In all fairness, if before going to Dengzhou. Zheng Hongkui will definitely oppose Liu Zeqing and the Zheng family alliance. Although the Zheng family sailor is strong. But it's not the wind that blows in vain, it's also the family foundation that has been accumulated for decades. For the sake of a mere Dengzhou, Zheng Hongkui felt that it was not cost-effective, so it was better to sit down. Show some sincerity to discuss with Zhu Ping'an. There is a sixty or seventy percent chance that the two can join forces to control the sea trade in the Daming Sea. After all. Multiple friends, multiple paths! It is also avoided that they will face each other with Zhu Ping'an's sword soldiers, and the gains of both families will outweigh the losses.

But after seeing the current situation in Dengzhou with his own eyes, he faced Zheng Zhilong's decision. Zheng Hongkui did not raise any further objections to this matter. The reason is that he and Zheng Sen both saw the weakness of the Denglai Sailor and the prosperity of the trade area. In Zheng Hongkui's view, today's Dengzhou is like a child wearing gold and silver, with a huge amount of wealth, walking on a barren path late at night, and it is simply impossible not to arouse the covetousness of others.

Zhu Ping'an and his people can make Dengzhou appear in the appearance, which is also a bit capable, but he is still too young. Looking at the things he made, they can only be described as flashy. With money, it is not perfect the strength of the sailors, but instead they go to tinker with new armies, firearms and the like. Dengzhou has such a big piece of fat, but there is no powerful sailor to protect it, it doesn't mean that a piece of fat is put in front of everyone in vain!

From this point of view, Liu Zeqing can only regain the territory of Dengzhou by cooperating with the Zheng family, a giant on the sea.

Zheng Hongkui got on the sampan, and the sailors skillfully manipulated the boat to turn its head and row towards the vast sea. Zheng Hongkui was a little worried in his heart, the eldest brother Zheng Zhilong made up his mind to cooperate with Liu Zeqing this time, and he also moved his mind to infiltrate forces in the north. The goal is nothing more than Jianghuai, and Jianghuai's wealth is no less than that of Jiangnan, but it has no power to protect itself, and only by taking Jianghuai can it get involved in Jiangnan. Zheng Zhilong has been well versed in this way over the years of defecting to the imperial court, and in his bones, he is more like a businessman than a politician, in his eyes, as long as he continues to expand the Zheng family's financial resources, sooner or later his Zheng family can also become a wealthy family comparable to those noble families in Beijing.

But Dengzhou is different, Dengzhou and Liaodong face each other across the sea, which also has to face some Manchu territory, it is not easy to stop, and the middle of the two sides is just a trench. Zheng Hongkui knows very well what kind of temper his eldest brother is, as long as it can protect his glory and wealth, he doesn't care who he cooperates with, from this point of view, it is unacceptable for Zheng Hongkui, a talented person.

In a short time, it was far away from the shore, and several Haicang ships pretending to be merchant ships appeared in the thick darkness ahead, and at this time, the hidden Franc machine guns had all been pushed out, and the sailors on board were all like facing a great enemy.

When they got closer, the people on the boat breathed a sigh of relief, "Report to the eldest prince, the fourth master is back!" ”

got on the boat and took off the impermeable fishing support, Zheng Hongkui felt a lot more relaxed up and down, and came to the wooden Shi Lang, and waved at Zheng Hongkui, "Fourth master, let's set off to return, the wind and waves are about to fight again, the eldest prince invites you to rest in his cabin." ”

Zheng Hongkui didn't speak, patted Shi Lang's shoulder, and walked straight to Zheng Sen's cabin.

The Haicang ships were not large, each ship could only accommodate more than 50 sailors and soldiers, so the cabins were extremely small. But after all, this is the boundary of Shandong, and the big ships are docked in the open sea, and if you want to get close to the coastline, you can only get to the sea cangship.

Zheng Sen hadn't slept yet, he poured himself a drink in this narrow cabin, Zheng Hongkui nodded secretly, although this Zheng Sen was arrogant, but he was really different from the ordinary noble son, he had been training in the sailor for so long, he had never shouted bitterly, and he shared weal and woe with all the soldiers and sailors on weekdays, and won the respect of the lower-level officers and soldiers, if he could train this open-minded a little more, he would be the most suitable successor to Zheng Zhilong in the future.

"Fourth Uncle", among Zheng Zhilong's brothers, Zheng Sen respects Zheng Hongkui the most. The reason is because Zheng Sen has received a good education since he was a child, and among all the uncles, only Zheng Hongkui is from Xiucai, so he finally has some common topics. And Zheng Zhihu, who had already died in battle, including Zheng Zhibao and others, were all vulgar martial artists, and they couldn't go together at all.

"The evening breeze is very cool, the fourth uncle should also warm up his body with some spirits!" Zheng Sen handed a wine jug to Zheng Hongkui's hand. "How's it going?"

A sip of liquor went down his stomach, and the burning sensation went all the way up his chest, straight to his head, Zheng Hongkui exhaled happily, and then said: "Liu Zeqing is old and cunning, and he still insists that we send troops to take Weihaiwei first, and then he can enter the Dengzhou ...... in name!" ”

Without waiting for Zheng Hongkui to finish speaking, Zheng Sen said directly: "This is not a problem, when I came, I had already had a deep discussion with my father once, and this time I came to Shandong to determine the specific time for sending troops." Liu Zeqing has his calculations, but we can't ignore it, Dengzhou's storage has affected Fujian's maritime trade, and we can't take it lightly. Taking advantage of Zhu Ping'an's fledgling, let's take Dengzhou in one fell swoop, even if Lu Zhenfei is behind him, according to his father's identity, there will always be room for bargaining in the future. ”

Zheng Hongkui nodded silently. Zheng Zhilong and Zheng Sen thought about it well, with or without Liu Zeqing, the Zheng family had to sweep away the influence of Dengzhou, even if Zhu Ping'an was an official of the imperial court. Sea trade is the foundation of the Zheng family, without sea trade, what does the Zheng family use to support the sailor, what to use to strive for greater wealth.

"Fourth uncle, don't worry!" Perhaps seeing Zheng Hongkui's concerns, Zheng Sen explained: "Zhu Ping'an is still a member of the imperial court, after conquering Dengzhou, we will not hurt his life unless we have to." Our Zheng family's foundation on land is too shallow, maybe this Dengzhou is a good choice, as long as he Zhu Ping'an is willing, he can continue to be his Dengzhou commander-in-chief, Liu Zeqing is not dependent, what can we do? ”

When Zheng Sen said this, Zheng Hongkui quite agreed. Take Dengzhou, it is best not to hurt Zhu Ping'an's life, this person is a student of Lu Zhenfei, and he is very close to Huang Gongfu and others. Coupled with Jane's presence in the emperor's heart, once something happens, it is easy to make enemies everywhere.

"What the eldest prince said is extremely true!" Zheng Hongkui smiled, "Although Zhu Ping'an is still a little undecided now, he is still a talent, if he can be used by my Zheng family, backed by my Zheng family's sailor, then it will definitely open up a situation in Shandong, and we can also have a relationship with Yigan Qingliu, with the recognition of these people, at least the court's attitude towards us will change somewhat!" ”

Zheng Hongkui took another sip of wine, "If Zhu Ping'an doesn't know the current affairs, then at that time, please ask the eldest prince to hand him over to me to deal with, and I have my own way to make him submit to our Zheng family!" ”

"Oh?" Zheng Sen was very strange, "Is there any way for the fourth uncle to convince this Zhu Ping'an?" ”

Zheng Hongkui smiled, "It's not a secret, I had a period of time in Nanyang, during which I met Zhu Yujian, who was the king of Tang at the time. At that time, not long after Zhu Yujian inherited the throne, he liked classics and classics, so he summoned Nanyang scholars to give lectures in the palace. I was fortunate enough to be a part of it, but I hit it off with him at first sight! ”

"I heard that Zhu Ping'an was born in the Tang Palace, and he followed Zhu Yujian all the way to Fengyang, serving and taking care of him wholeheartedly on weekdays, although Zhu Yujian was deposed as a concubine, he will never abandon him, so it seems that he is a loyal person, and I think that the words of the old master still have to be heard. After conquering Dengzhou, if Zhu Ping'an refuses to submit, at that time, I will take a letter of resignation and ask Zhu Yujian to comfort him, and he will definitely be able to recruit him to his command! (To be continued......) R1292