Chapter 212

Anyway, the holy decree came, and Emperor Chongzhen authorized Cheng Shijie to start a war against Zheng Zhilong this time, which can be regarded as a famous division.

For the people of Liaodong, the war of the Ning Navy is a normal phenomenon, and it is a strange thing if there is no war. When Cheng Shijie was training the officers and men of the Ning Navy, the requirement for them was that as soldiers of the Ning Navy, they would only do two things in their lives, fight or prepare for war.

With the holy decree of Emperor Chongzhen, Cheng Shijie has to fight this battle, even if there is no such holy decree, in fact, he still has to fight.

Emperor Chongzhen's holy decree to Cheng Shijie is two, one is to tune the Ning Navy to the south to exterminate the pirates, and the other is the holy decree, that is, to change the title of Princess Zhu Weiyuan of Le'an to Princess Chongming, and change Chongming County to Zhu Weiyuan's fief, unlike other princesses or vassal kings, Zhu Weiyuan is specially allowed to open a mansion and build a government and operate a fief Chongming on his own.

It's fun now, Zhu Weiyuan, a princess who was originally in name only, now has the same power as a vassal king, which can be regarded as a reward from Emperor Chongzhen, and it is also to support the struggle between Cheng Shijie and his wife openly.

The official title of the Kaifu Jianya is the Kaifu Yi and the Three Divisions, and the Kaifu Yi and the Three Divisions refer to the act of placing the shogunate and the staff subordinates in their own name. Those who have been awarded the same number as the three divisions can get the same treatment as the three princes. The opening of the palace and the three divisions are generally from the Wei and Jin dynasties to the Yuan Dynasty, and the imperial court gave meritorious ministers the merits.

In the Ming Dynasty, this was the rank of the civil and prose officials from the first grade, but the problem is that Cheng Shijie does not have this power, but Zhu Weiyuan has it, and this practice is simply to show the carriage and horse, so that Zhu Weiyuan, the princess of the Ming Dynasty, has the same power as a man, and forms a situation where two giants are formed within the Ning Navy.

No matter how Cheng Shijie runs his Ning Navy, there will always be depressed people within the Ning Navy collective. For example, Zhou Yandong, who is the number two person in the Ning Navy, has a very weak sense of presence in Liaodong.

If according to Emperor Chongzhen's intentions, the depressed Zhou Yandong would naturally take refuge in Zhu Weiyuan, so the internal division of Ning Haijun was divided.

But the problem is that what Emperor Chongzhen didn't expect was that after Zhu Weiyuan received this holy decree, he directly found Cheng Shijie: "Husband, the emperor is not at peace there!" ”

Cheng Shijie looked at Zhu Weiyuan and smiled faintly: "Giving you a county in Chongming County as a fief, this is a reward that the vassal kings of the world have not enjoyed, don't let people say that they are ungrateful!" ”

"Husband, don't test me, I don't believe you can't see through what the emperor means!"

Zhu Weiyuan smiled coquettishly: "Although I am the Zhu family, but I am married to my husband, I am the Cheng family, we are the husband, a family!" ”

"What are you going to do?"

"You know my ability, managing one of our families, we are all powerless!"

Zhu Weiyuan seemed to think of something important, looked at Cheng Shijie and said: "Husband, pick a good day and an auspicious day, and accept Yun Niang, Jin Qiaoer, and Yang Wan!" They are all capable people, if you marry someone else, you don't have to worry about it! ”

Cheng Shijie smiled bitterly: "You know this body for your husband, isn't this harmful?" ”

"Give them a name, that's what they want most!"

Zhu Weiyuan said: "Guogong, you can have a wife and four concubines, I will be the master, and let Gu Ziyi, Yang Yunniang, Jin Qiaoer and Yang Wan be the four concubines!" ”

A concubine is a concubine with an official status, and she is generally the dowry of her mother's family. The higher standard is this kind of sister marriage; Medium is a woman of higher status who marries with a woman of the same clan or clans; The lowest specification is the maid dowry. The former who marries in this way is a wife, and the latter is a concubine.

The status of concubines is much higher than that of concubines, they have a formal status, they can attend formal banquets, and so on. Such a system was very popular among the nobility from the Warring States period to the Three Kingdoms period.

For example, Sun Quan's mother married her father Sun Jian with her sister. From a political point of view, this system guarantees the interests of the marrying party to the greatest extent. If the woman who is the main wife dies or does not give birth, then the concubine takes her place, and the close relationship between the concubine and the "maiden family" can still ensure the interests of the "maiden family".

Of course, from the perspective of Zhu Weiyi's interests, it is understandable to make Gu Ziyi a concubine, Gu Ziyi was originally Zhu Weiyuan's personal maid, and after marrying Cheng Shijie with her, according to normal reason, she will also become Cheng Shijie's concubine.

And it is a concubine with a relatively high status, but the problem is Yang Yunniang, Jin Qiaoer and Yang Wan, the three of them are Cheng Shijie's original team, when Zhu Weiyuan did not marry, they stayed in Cheng's mansion, although they have no name, but in fact, whether it is Jin Qiaoer, Yang Yunniang, including Yang Wan, or even Wang Wei, who has not met Cheng Shijie a few times.

In the eyes of others, they are all Cheng Shijie's women.

Cheng Shijie didn't discuss this issue with Zhu Weiyuan, he can't get over his own hurdle in his heart now, and he can't be sorry for Xiang Hui, his wife.

Cheng Shijie looked at Zhu Weiyuan and was a little nervous: "Princess, let's discuss this matter when we come back!" ”

"No, I feel like it's better to settle this matter first!"

Zhu Weiyuan took Cheng Shijie's hand, and Cheng Shijie didn't agree, so he didn't let go.

Cheng Shijie smiled: "I'm just fighting a group of pirates, don't worry!" Don't worry, it's okay, Jiannu is so fierce that he can't help me, let alone a group of little thieves! ”

"You can't say that...... You and Jiannu are fighting land, whoever is ruthless can win, but this naval battle is different, a strong wind came and all the ships capsized, and it is useless to fight again......"

Cheng Shijie couldn't cry or laugh: "My lady, it's going to be a war, can you think of something good?" ”

"Anyway, I'm not sure...... You must take care of yourself, don't be too desperate, don't be greedy, and don't underestimate the enemy! Promise me, even if you are facing a group of vulnerable thieves, you will fight them as the two yellow flags of Jiannu! I...... I don't care, but my kids can't come out without a father! ”

"Okay, I promise you!"

Cheng Shijie should actually be grateful to Emperor Chongzhen, because Chongming Island is in hand, even if Cheng Shijie has a foothold in the south of the Yangtze River, although Chongming Island is very small, only more than 1,300 square kilometers, which is equivalent to a small county.

However, this site is already good for Cheng Shijie.

And what makes Cheng Shijie more satisfied is that this site is not unfamiliar to Cheng Shijie, the Sand Boat Gang is the head snake of Chongming, and now the Sand Boat Gang no longer exists, which is one of the conditions for taking refuge in Cheng Shijie.

As compensation, Shen Boyun, the leader of the gang, was one of the 19th members of the Liaodong Management Committee, and Shen Hu, the No. 2 person in the Shachuan Gang, was also a national hero and the father of Shen Tingyang, a righteous man who resisted the Qing Dynasty, and was one of the 20 members.

Although Shen's ancestors were also shipwrights, in the era of Shen Boyun and Shen Hu, shipping made their own business develop amazingly. The Shen family has accumulated millions of family fortunes, hundreds of sand boats under his command, and thousands of hectares of land on land, and is one of the richest people in Chongming and one of the largest maritime merchants in the southeast. Because the Shen family has huge wealth and a huge number of sand boats, it is also the second largest maritime power after the Zheng family.

Dressed in a black military uniform, the taciturn Admiral Ning boarded the big ship with high spirits, his shiny swords and guns were tightly held in his hands, and the blades of the guns flashed with a terrifying edge.

"Soldiers, when you arrive in Chongming, first gain a foothold, if the Zheng clan arrives, you will beat it hard, so that Zheng Zhilong knows how powerful our Ning Navy is!"

In fact, Zheng Zhilong's intentions and purposes are as Cheng Shijie guessed, it is indeed instigated by the court bigwigs and Jiangnan maritime merchants, as well as to maintain his monopoly on the maritime trade of the Ming Dynasty, but for a deeper reason, there can only be one king in this sea!

Maritime supremacy means infinite wealth. In order to monopolize the maritime trade in the East China Sea and the South China Sea, Zheng Zhilong can brazenly fight with the sailors of Guangdong and Fujian, and kill their elites, or he can kill his former worshippers after defecting to the Ming Dynasty, and he dares to do anything in order to keep his own position.

He went on a killing spree with the Sand Boat Gang, the reason was that Cheng Shijie set up the Jinzhou Shipyard and the Lushun Shipyard to try to build warships with larger tonnage and more firepower in Liaodong, which Zheng Zhilong could not tolerate, and if he wanted to ensure the supremacy of the Zheng family on the sea, he must nip all dangers in the bud!

On November 19, the sixth year of Chongzhen, the vanguard of the Ning Navy, which had been trained on Jeju Island, arrived in Chongming with an infantry of about 3,000 people, and then, five days later, on November 24, the second echelon of Liaodong Lushun, more than 6,000 people and a large number of supplies, arrived in Chongming.

Cheng Shijie was on November 28, the sixth year of Chongzhen, and the third echelon of the Suining Navy, that is, the main force of the whole army, a total of more than 16,000 people, went to Chongming.

When going to Chongming Island, all the officers and men of the Ning Navy and the members of the Liaodong Management Committee collectively opposed Cheng Shijie's trip to Chongming, and at this time, Cheng Shijie compromised with everyone.

decided to take Zhu Weiyuan's Eighth Princess to Chongming, but the Liaodong Management Committee did not object to this, because the Eighth Princess was not loaded with artillery, which means that this is a ship without force, so Cheng Shijie has no way to directly participate in the war, if Cheng Shijie commands the Eighth Princess ship to rush up, it will definitely be a head.

Zhu Weiyuan also accompanied her.

Cheng Shijie said to Zhu Weiyuan: "Grandma, don't make trouble, I'm fighting, not playing in the mountains and rivers, I can assure you that I will never go to the Qinhuai River, and I will never go to see Qinhuai Bayan!" ”

"Qin Huai Bayan?"

Zhu Weiyuan said: "If your husband likes it, you can redeem them, our family has a big business, and if you have a few more mouths to eat, you can still afford it!" ”

Hearing Zhu Weiyuan's words, Cheng Shijie was so moved that he wanted to cry, it was better in the Ming Dynasty.

If he dares to tell Xiang Hui about this, don't talk about it, even if he watches a glamorous dance, he will have to sleep on the sofa for a few days.

Zhu Weiyuan's reason is very strong, Chongming is her fiefdom, she wants to go to Chongming to have a look, besides, the naval battle Ning Navy may be defeated by the Zheng pirates, but on land, the Ning Navy is invincible.

Listening to Zhu Weiyuan say that the Ning Navy was invincible, Cheng Shijie suddenly thought of a key question, maybe he could use his identity to attract Zheng Zhilong to attack Chongming, and then he could wait for work and fight Zheng Zhilong in an ambush.

With Zhu Weiyuan on the boat, Cheng Shijie is blessed, because she has dozens of palace ladies and more than a dozen cooks, not only does she eat well, but her life will not be boring.

The palace that Chongzhen threw to Zhu Weiyuan was definitely old enough in the Ming Dynasty, but the problem is that they are only twenty-eight or nineteen years old, or thirty years old, and even thirty-six or seventeen-year-old women will call themselves little fairies, and they are definitely still young.

On the Eighth Princess, Cheng Shijie and Zhu Weiyuan were preparing to barbecue, and Gao Qiqian came over and said, "General Cheng, can Zheng Zhilong really get more than 10 million taels of silver a year?" ”

"Oh, is it unusual to have more than 10 million taels of silver?"

Cheng Shijie smiled: "Do you know how many ships there are on the sea? ”

"There should be hundreds, right?"

"Hundreds, not to mention hundreds, the Zheng family itself has more than three thousand, our Ning Navy also has four or five hundred, and the Sand Boat Gang also has more than eight hundred, if you count them all, there are still seven or eight thousand large and small!"

Cheng Shijie said: "Zheng Zhilong is actually very dark, he collects protection fees according to the value of each ship's goods, if the value of a ship is 10,000 taels of silver, they will charge 2,000 taels of silver, and if they have money, they will pay the silver, and if they don't have silver, they will take the goods to offset the account, Gao Gonggong, you calculate yourself, how much money can Zheng Zhilong make this year?" ”

Gao Qiqian crossed his fingers and calculated, and soon he gave up, he was really not good at settling accounts, but leaving this question to his godson, Zhang Muzhi calculated for a while, and gave Gao Qigong a positive look.

Gao Qiqian smiled and said: "General Cheng, there is one thing, I'm afraid you don't know yet!" ”

"What's the matter?"

"When the imperial court gave you a holy decree, it also sent someone to issue a holy decree to Zheng Zhilong!"

"What decree?"

"It's exactly the same as your decree!"

"It's kind of interesting!"

Cheng Shijie said with a smile: "So, neither His Majesty nor the Ministry of War have listed clear targets for me and Zheng Zhilong?" ”

"Is this necessary?"

"It's really not necessary, we know exactly who we want to fight."

Because the development of the Ning Navy exceeded the expectations of the princes of the imperial court, even Emperor Chongzhen was afraid that the Ning Navy would be too big to lose, this battle, Emperor Chongzhen was greedy for money on the surface, and came for Zheng Zhilong's sea protection fee, in fact, he hoped that this battle could make Cheng Shijie's Ning Navy and Zheng's Navy fight a lose-lose battle.

As the saying goes, the sandpiper and the clam compete, and the fisherman profits.

Emperor Chongzhen also wanted to be a fisherman.

The Ning Navy launched a large army of sea and land at the same time, the coastal areas were covered with war clouds, and a big war was about to break out.

Fu Zonglong was promoted, he was promoted from the governor of Tianjin to the secretary of the military department, but the problem is that he is very big now, and he has no doubt that Ning Haijun can defeat Zheng Zhilong on land, because he has seen the scene of Ning Haijun fighting Jiannu, with Jiannu's combat effectiveness, in front of Ning Haijun, he can only be abused.

Zheng Zhilong was not good at land warfare, but he was not at all optimistic about the prospects of the naval battle of the Ning Navy. Zheng has dominated the sea for nearly ten years, and has developed into a behemoth with two or three hundred thousand troops and three thousand warships.

Use Zheng Zhilong to fight against the Dutch. And Zheng Zhilong did it, defeating the Dutch at sea many times, so that the Dutch had no temper at all in front of him. How easy is it for such a sea beast to deal with?

No matter how strong Cheng Shijie's Ning Navy is on land, they can't kill this behemoth at sea, they are afraid that they won't be able to please them!

The worried Master Fu Zonglong, the secretary of the Ministry of War, went to the cabinet and euphemistically put forward his opinion: "Hai Guogong and Zheng Zhilong are two fierce tigers, and once they meet, they will definitely fight you to the death." The prince of the sea country is good at land warfare, Zheng Zhilong dominates the sea, once the war starts, the war will be continuous, several years of endless, I am afraid that the coastal people will suffer from the pond fish! According to the old man's opinion, the imperial court should still mediate to avoid this military disaster! ”

Originally, if Xu Guangqi spoke for Cheng Shijie in the cabinet, it would not be that there would be no reaction at all, but the problem is that after the winter, Xu Guangqi and Xu Ge fell ill again, and it was very serious, and it seemed that it was still unknown whether he could survive it.

Wen Tiren is very happy, as Cheng Shijie's strength grows, Xu Guangqi's right to speak is getting heavier and heavier, fortunately, Xu Guangqi's health is not good, otherwise, Wen Tiren really can't sleep well.

Wen Tiren smiled and shook his head repeatedly: "No, no, no, Master Fu's words are wrong!" The Zheng family was entrenched in the sea, and the maritime merchants and fishermen in Guangdong, Fujian, and even Jiangnan were exploited by it, and it was a great harm, and it was really a great harm for the imperial court to recruit him...... If it's a little peaceful today, Hai Guogong has such a heart, why not let Hai Guogong solve the Zheng family and get rid of this big trouble for the imperial court? ”

Fu Zonglong smiled bitterly: "The old man also hopes that the Duke of Haiguo can solve the big trouble for the imperial court, the problem is that the Ning Navy Navy has only a few dozen naval divisions, and the Zheng family has three thousand warships, and the difference in strength is huge!" ”

Wu Zongda said: "Master Fu, you are worried about the sky, Hai Guogong is a genius of the sky, invincible, it is not difficult for him to defeat the strong with the weak...... Master Fu, don't worry too much, wait to see a good show! ”

In short, the cabinet also hopes that Zheng Zhilong can teach Cheng Shijie a good lesson, because Cheng Shijie never takes their cabinet seriously, and other ministers come to the capital, whether it is open or secret, they have to give a big gift to the cabinet.

But Cheng Shijie is good, if he has good things, he will give them to Emperor Chongzhen, not birds.

It's really unbearable, and my aunt can't bear it anymore.

Wen Tiren actually didn't want Cheng Shijie to be killed by Zheng Zhilong, he also hoped that Cheng Shijie would deal with Jiannu, the best result was that Cheng Shijie and Zheng Zhilong would fight to the death, so that they could reap the benefits of the fisherman.

Fu Zonglong's mouth was dry, but Wen Tiren still talked about him left and right, which made him both annoyed and helpless, so he could only give up.

Fu Zonglong knew that Cheng Shijie was too arrogant and domineering, and he had offended the Wenchen Group and even the entire scholar class, everyone wished that he was finished, and it was too late for everyone to be happy, so how could he persuade him?

He had no choice but to let out a long sigh: "Haijiang has been troubled since then!" ”

……

Almost at the same time as Cheng Shijie received the holy decree, Zheng Zhilong, who was in Xiamen, also received the holy decree of the imperial court, and the person Zheng Zhilong used most easily was actually his second brother Zheng Zhihu, but unfortunately, Zheng Zhihu was wrapped in a fishing net in front of Zheng Zhilong by Liu Xiang last year and threw Zheng Zhihu into the sea.

Now Zheng Zhilong decided to use the night pot first and try Cheng Shijie's color.

The so-called night pot is a small day warrior under Zheng Zhilong, although Wen Tiren promised Zheng Zhilong a lot of benefits, including knighthood, Shizhen Fujian, but the problem is that Zheng Zhilong is not a flower in a greenhouse, he started from scratch, and grew from a small translator to a sea king step by step.

Zheng Zhilong has seen too much deception, and he has seen too many things about stabbing in the back, he can't trust the bigwigs of the court, in case the bigwigs of the court turn their faces and don't admit their accounts, he can only be forced to leave Xiamen and live at sea.

Once Ning's navy can attack Xiamen and Quanzhou by land, he really has no bottom.

It couldn't be better with his night pot, no matter whether these bigwigs in the DPRK and China are ready to yin him or not, he can push the problem on the Japanese Kou, it is best to kill Cheng Shijie, if he can't kill him, his loss is not big.

This time, the troops were led by Zheng Zhibao, and one-third of Zheng's elite was dispatched, including more than 280 main warships, more than 600 small boats, and nearly 1,000 ships, including 40,000 foot cavalry, and more than 6,000 Xiaori warriors as the main force.

Zheng Zhilong also knows very well that fighting in his own territory, no matter whether he wins or loses, the loss is his own.

Therefore, after receiving this holy decree, Zheng Zhilong was ready to take Wusongkou first, as the strategic frontier of the Zheng family, with this forward base, the Zheng fleet not only had a foothold, but also could threaten the Jiangnan Maritime Group.

The decisive battle outside the country, this is Zheng Zhilong's intention, and it is also his determination, nearly 1,000 ships, more than 30,000 sailors, this is a powerful force, plus Zheng Zhilong's gift to Cheng Shijie, Cheng Shijie will definitely not be able to eat and walk.

In fact, Zheng Zhilong's thoughts are the same as Cheng Shijie's, they all take a fancy to the Yangtze River estuary, which is the most important strategic place, with the Yangtze River estuary, whether it is Cheng Shijie or Zheng Zhilong, they can force the Jiangnan Maritime Business Group to stand in line, this war, no one can stay out of it.

If Zheng Zhilong and Cheng Shijie are both injured, wouldn't it be the court fishermen who benefited, and the most profitable was actually the Jiangnan Maritime Business Group, and they could take advantage of the opportunity to rise.

Jiangnan Maritime Group has its own source of goods, and they have a large number of silk households, which can improve the hardest export goods, that is, silk and tea, which are all profitable transactions.

They also have shipbuilding technicians who can build countless large ships.

If the Jiangnan Maritime Group wants to ride the wall, then it will fight the wall-riding faction first, so as to save them from fighting back at a critical moment. In this era, the area of merchant ships and warships was really small.

ps: I don't need to wash my hair upside down, write it out.

(End of chapter)