Chapter 913 Stumbling Block

Wang Tom's words made Zheng Zhilong, who had understood a little bit, fall into a state of confusion again. He really didn't understand why these overseas visitors, who were said to have lived thousands of miles away and had never interacted with him, were here before they arrived.

During the Ming Dynasty, he listed himself as his opponent.

If we extrapolate from the perspective of time, Zheng Zhilong did not establish his own business until the end of 1625, that is, the fifth year after the dawn of the Ming Dynasty, and began to form the Eighteen Zhizhi. In the next two years, he took advantage of the severe drought in southern Fujian to lead his troops to plunder the coast of Fujian.

Tens of thousands of disaster victims were transported from Quanzhou to reclaim land on the west coast of Taiwan Island. The arrival of the Haihan people on Qiongzhou Island was seven years after the Apocalypse. In that year, Quanzhou Patrol Cai Shanji tried to appease Zheng Zhilong. After meeting and discussing in Quanzhou,

Zheng Zhilong's two younger brothers, Zheng Zhihu and Zheng Zhibao, believed that the court was not sincere enough, so the brothers gave up the recruitment and returned to Taiwan to continue their work as pirates. In the same year, Shibazhi also fought against the Dutch on Taiwan Island.

He also had the upper hand. At that time, Zheng Zhilong had never even heard of the Haihan people, let alone had any grudge against them. This hatred really came out of nowhere.

Seeing the question mark on Zheng Zhilong's face, Wang Tom could naturally think of why he was confused. Even if Wang Tom was willing to explain to him, Zheng Zhilong probably wouldn't be able to believe the various reasons. After all, Haihan was afraid of him.

Most of them come from things that never happened. Zheng Zhilong neither killed Xu Xinsu, nor was he able to clear his name and go ashore to become a Ming army general, nor did he surrender to the Manchus and become a traitor. Haihan asked him to be responsible for these things that he had never done.

Being responsible, in his opinion, isn’t it a big joke?

Wang Tom said: "You don't need to ask about the reason in detail now. In short, we are here well prepared. If the Eighteen Zhi are not destroyed, the war will not end. Today's ending was already a few years ago."

It’s doomed.”

Naturally, such a straightforward answer could not make Zheng Zhilong relieved. He had struggled for many years to have a family like Shibazhi, and he originally expected to clear his name and come ashore to become an official in the DPRK after getting rid of Xu Xinsu, a big troublemaker. But the appearance of Haihan people

Not only did it block the development route he planned, but he also supported his opponent Xu Xinsu to rise to power, bit by bit eroding Shiba Zhi's advantages. As the saying goes, blocking someone's path to wealth is like killing his parents. This Haihan not only blocked his path to wealth, but also

The official road was also blocked. For such a deep hatred, Wang Tom actually took it away lightly. Even if Zheng Zhilong had admitted defeat, he couldn't bear this tone.

Zheng Zhilong asked: "General Wang, you want to compete with Shiba Zhi for control of the Fujian Strait, and you want to cooperate with the Fujian government in exchange for business opportunities. These purposes are understandable to me, but four years ago in Chongzhen, Shiba Zhi and Gui

We don’t have any conflict with you, so why did you not even give Shibazhi a chance to negotiate, but you must get rid of us and hurry up?”

The "four years of Chongzhen" mentioned by Zheng Zhilong refers to the first direct conflict between the two sides during this year, that is, in May 1631, the Haihan mission encountered an assassination attempt by the Shibazhi organization in Zhangzhou City, and subsequently the mission's fleet

They cooperated with the Fujian officers and soldiers to break through Nanri Island, an important stronghold of Shibazhi on the Fujian coastline. Only then did the two sides begin a real head-to-head confrontation. Before that, Haihan had never finished the battle in person, and had only passed through

The agent of Fujian Mingjun is fighting against Shibazhi. Zheng Zhilong thinks that the vague excuses Wang Tom said are all just excuses. He can face defeat due to lack of strength, but it is difficult to accept that his opponent is like this

Perfunctory yourself.

Wang Tom said: "What we want is not just control of the Fujian Strait and business opportunities. The existence of Shibazhi is a threat that must be eliminated for us."

"But we have already given up our territory!" Zheng Zhilong retorted sadly and angrily.

"What you are giving up is only the Fujian Strait." Wang Tom's tone also became serious: "But we now need the waterway from Taiwan to Ryukyu. For us, Shibazhi is still a stumbling block that must be removed. As for the certainty

We have to use force to solve your reasons. As I said just now, this has been decided from the beginning. No matter what you do, it will not change our plan."

After all, Zheng Zhilong still did not hear a reasonable explanation from Wang Tom, which made him very sad and angry. Judging from Wang Tom's attitude, Haihan paid enough attention to Shiba Zhi, but the reason was not

Just because it is regarded as a stumbling block in the process of territory expansion, it must be completely eliminated. For Zheng Zhilong, who has been striving to get ahead all his life, this is undoubtedly a complete denial of his personal value.

"It seems that Mr. Zheng's life can't be saved. I have nothing else to ask for. I just hope that General Wang can take into account that Quan Zi is young and ignorant and let him live." Zheng Zhilong knew that he had no luck, so he stood up immediately.

He bowed and begged Tom Wang to let his son go.

Tom Wang responded in a deep voice: "You don't have to be so discouraged. We have no intention of executing you, nor will we harm your family. It's just that you probably won't have personal freedom for a long time in the future. As for your son

Zheng Fusong, you can choose different future paths for him. One is to be imprisoned with you until we think you no longer pose any threat, then there will be a chance to regain freedom. The other is to have us raise him.

As an adult, he can get rid of his identity as the son of Zheng Zhilong and live freely in the sun."

Wang Tom's words made Zheng Zhilong feel relieved. What he was most worried about was that the Haihan people would execute him to avoid future troubles, and even his own son would not be spared. But since Wang Tom made this statement on behalf of Haihan,

Then the lives of his father and son were basically saved. But Zheng Zhilong really couldn't understand why the Haihan people were so kind to his son, and even offered to raise him on his behalf. Could it be that the Haihan people had other plots?

The most valuable asset in Zheng Zhilong's name is the Eighteen Zhi, but this armed force has been suppressed by Haihan to a small area on the island, and has also determined to surrender to Haihan, so even if Haihan

Even if the Han people controlled Zheng Fusong, it would be difficult for them to achieve the effect of "holding the emperor to control the princes". The only possibility Zheng Zhilong could think of was that the Han people wanted to use this method to control themselves so that they could survive the prisoners honestly.

career.

Of course, Zheng Zhilong didn't want his son to be imprisoned with him, but this second option was a bit strange, making it difficult for him to make a decision for a while. Even if Zheng Zhilong tried hard, he couldn't imagine why the Haihan people would treat him.

The fact that his son is so tolerant actually has little to do with him. It is entirely due to the special treatment given to him as a national hero in the original time and space as "Zheng Chenggong". This kind of "feeling" behavior that spans time and space cannot be explained by common sense.

.

Seeing that he was silent, Wang Tom knew that this guy was probably calculating the pros and cons, so he immediately said: "You don't have to feel embarrassed. Even if you don't agree with our proposal, we won't embarrass your son, but I still want to remind you.

You know, if you choose to let him be imprisoned with you, then he probably won't have a chance to be released until you pass away."

Zheng Zhilong clenched his fists. He himself is not yet thirty years old. After such a long period of imprisonment, his son will be at least thirty years old. Even if he is released by then, he will know nothing and will be separated from the outside world.

How can a person who has been cut off from society for many years survive in this world? Even if I leave him some secret property, how much can I get back in a few decades? Although long-term imprisonment can save Zheng Fusong's life, there is no doubt that

This will also ruin his future life, which is also a result Zheng Zhilong does not want to see.

"Then if I entrust the dog to you, will there be a chance to meet me in the future?" Zheng Zhilong asked with a glimmer of hope.

"There will be opportunities to meet, but the time will be arranged by us." Wang Tom paused and said, "About once a year."

Zheng Zhilong took a deep breath. Although this arrangement was still unlikely to satisfy him, it was undoubtedly the most beneficial way for Zheng Fusong known so far. Considering Zheng Fusong's future life, Wang Tom's proposal

It has made him unable to refuse. However, it also makes him more and more unable to understand the way of the Haihan people. On the one hand, they are deliberately planning, spending several years and countless wealth, just to deal with him, but on the other hand, they generously let it go.

He sacrificed his own family and was even willing to raise his son on his behalf. These two completely contradictory approaches of the Haihan people made Zheng Zhilong really feel at a loss as to what to do, and it was even more difficult to figure out the other party's true purpose.

After some discussions, Wang Tom and Zheng Zhilong reached a three-point agreement. First, to ensure the safety of Zheng Zhilong and his family; second, to ensure the safety of Zheng Zhilong’s subordinates who chose to surrender; third, Zheng Zhilong must surrender before noon the next day.

He led his men to surrender unconditionally to Haihan and accepted the arrangement.

After the two parties agreed on the surrender place for the next day, Zheng Zhilong stood up and left. Wang Tom did not try to detain him, but politely sent him out of the camp. However, the Fujian official representative responsible for identifying the identity was somewhat dissatisfied with Wang Tom's handling of the matter.

Agreed, and believed that he should detain Zheng Zhilong on the spot or even kill him directly, so as not to cause other variables after releasing him.

"Zheng Zhilong cannot die yet." Wang Tom explained patiently: "In the field of trade with Japan, it is difficult for us to find a more professional consultant than him. He still has great value for us.

Life is more useful than death."

Of course, the Fujian side hopes to eradicate Zheng Zhilong to eliminate the trouble he is causing, but Haihan does not intend to follow the official opinions of Fujian in how to handle this matter. If Zheng Zhilong is just a pirate leader like Wang Jialin of the Zhoushan Ship Gang, then kill him

Just kill them, it’s no big deal. But Zheng Zhilong was stationed in Japan in his early years, and he is a real expert in the maritime trade between China and Japan. He also has many local connections in Japan that continue to this day. These are Haihan

resources and information that are currently lacking.

Keeping Zheng Zhilong alive is equivalent to having an experienced and highly qualified consultant who can slowly extract all kinds of information Haihan needs from him. From the intelligence field, Zheng Zhilong may be better than this island.

The remaining thousands of Shibazhi personnel are more valuable together. Therefore, before the war begins, the Haihan Security Department has made a request to the military through the Executive Committee to save Zheng Zhilong's life as much as possible. If it is a battlefield confrontation

, swords and guns have no eyes, so that's it, but since Zheng Zhilong has chosen the road of surrender, it is not too difficult to save his life.

Although the official representatives of Fujian were somewhat dissatisfied with this, this operation was led by Haihan. Fujian did not directly participate in the war. It only sent a military observation team to participate. It would be difficult to interfere with the resolution made by Haihan. At most, it was

After returning, he reported the situation to Xu Xinsu, who then personally negotiated with Haihan. However, by that time, Zheng Zhilong had probably already been transported back to Hainan Island and imprisoned in a secret prison somewhere.

After Zheng Zhilong returned to Shibazhi Station, he informed everyone of the results of his discussion with Wang Tom, but concealed the details related to Zheng Fusong. Everyone was naturally excited that they could save their lives in the current situation of losing the battle and having nowhere to escape.

He was pleased, but still had a lot of uneasiness about how the Haihan people would deal with the prisoners, and they all asked Zheng Zhilong questions.

Zheng Zhilong explained: "General Haihan Wang said that their way of dealing with prisoners of war has always been to impose hard labor of varying lengths of time, ranging from one and a half years to several years. After the hard labor is over, they can return to freedom.

Although I have to suffer some hardships for this, it is better than losing my life in vain."

"What do the Haihan people plan to do with the big boss?" At this time, there were only a few people who were still thinking about Zheng Zhilong's fate.

"I will probably be treated a little better than you brothers, and I won't have to do hard labor." Zheng Zhilong laughed at himself: "The Haihan people made it very clear that they will keep me in solitary confinement. As for the time limit... it will probably last forever.

Locked up until death."

Everyone immediately fell silent. For pirates like them, who travel all over the world, losing their freedom is not much different from death, not to mention life imprisonment. The reason why Zheng Zhilong accepted such conditions was that saving his own life was the second most important thing.

Most likely it was to save the lives of these people.

If Zheng Zhilong had not mentioned surrender before, everyone might have fought the Haihan people until they had the courage to do so. But now that they have seen the hope of survival, if they were to give up the chance of survival and fight to the death with the Haihan people, many people would fight.

Zheng Zhilong's will was not so firm. When Zheng Zhilong saw that no one in the room expressed their intention to fight the Haihan people for him, he was slightly disappointed at the moment. He could only force a smile and said: "Brothers, don't worry, we will follow the agreed time tomorrow."

Complete the handover with Haihan and follow their arrangements. All the pigs, cattle and sheep on the island will be slaughtered tonight, brothers, let’s have a dinner together!”
Chapter completed!