Chen Kai left the Tiger Festival Hall, but the discussion between Zheng Chenggong and the two generals did not end. It could even be said that they were originally discussing military affairs here, but Chen Kai's appearance temporarily interrupted it.

"The accent sounds like someone from the North. It's a pity that I haven't had any dealings with those old Westerners, so I can't be sure for the moment. However, Shanxi is thousands of miles away and is already the northern border province of Huang Ming Dynasty.

.It takes a lot of courage, ability and luck for such a person to go all the way south in the midst of war and chaos, even if he has the convenience of a canal."

"If it doesn't work, just kill him. Otherwise, if it's just a small trick, it will actually ruin the big thing."

The two generals Zheng Chenggong attacked were one in his early forties, with a medium build and a kind face. The other was obviously a few years older, short and fat, with a large waist and a fierce look. He looked more like a pirate than an experienced one.

Make military commanders.

Of these two people, the one with a medium build sitting on the right is called Hong Xu and Jue Zhong Zhenbo. He was the leader of Zheng Chenggong’s subordinates who went south to South Australia last year, and he is the most trusted general of Zheng Chenggong. The one sitting on the left is

Chen Bao, who was originally the deputy commander-in-chief of South Australia and was recently promoted to the commander-in-chief of South Australia by Zheng Chenggong, has a military nickname of 3 feet 6, but I don't know whether it refers to his height or his waistline.

The last deputy commander-in-chief of South Australia was none other than Zheng Chenggong's father, Zheng Zhilong. The fact that Chen Bao took over the post later shows that he was also Zheng Zhilong's confidant. This man was conferred the title of Zhongyong Marquis in the Longwu Dynasty, so his status was naturally different. That's right.

Because he was Zheng Zhilong's confidant, when Zheng Chenggong came here with more than ninety subordinates last year, Chen Bao did not hesitate to give up his military power. Now he is also Zheng Chenggong's confidant.

Due to the basic principle of separation and planning for the commander-in-chief, Hong Xu was somewhat suspicious of Chen Kai's remarks, but Chen Bao directly proposed to get rid of him to avoid future troubles.

At this moment, the decision-making power naturally lies in Zheng Chenggong's hands, but Zheng Chenggong has made up his mind long ago and will not waver easily: "This is the first scholar who has defected to me in the past six months. Even if he does not have fame, he can at least read and be literate.

What's more, this person can quote scriptures and allusions, which is extraordinary. Even if he is an incompetent person, treating him preferentially can attract more scholars to join him. To say the least, he is really a meticulous writer. On an island, if I

If I treat him sincerely, I can let him be used by me; even if I can't, how can he, a scholar, escape?"

"Then what if he is not a scholar at all?"

"Didn't he also say that he has fame?"

Due to the problem of literacy rate, Chen Kai has a natural advantage. In addition, he is eloquent and has quoted scriptures, which further corroborates the young man's statement of enlightenment. At this moment, Zheng Chenggong's tone

Full of confidence, Hong Xu and Chen Bao looked at each other and immediately agreed with Zheng Chenggong's views. As for what subordinates should do, they should also do it, whether it is defense or anything else.

In fact, there was no other way. Zheng Zhilong betrayed Emperor Longwu and surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, but Zheng Chenggong raised troops in a remote place in Nan'ao to rebel against the Qing Dynasty. Although he inherited some of Zheng Zhilong's strength from Chen Bao and was an earl, he

His identity determined that the scholar-bureaucrats who were optimistic about the Manchu Qing Dynasty were not willing to serve for such a person who was "ignorant of current affairs" and resisted the Qing Dynasty. Those who were willing to serve the Ming court may not necessarily view such a traitor's son.

To put it bluntly, when Zheng Chenggong is most embarrassed now, in the eyes of the world, he is just like Zhu Bajie looking at himself in the mirror - he is not a human being inside and out. It is already a great joy to have a scholar here come here to join him. How can he still think about it?

Picking and choosing. Of course, even if he wants to pick and choose, he must have the ability to go to Shanxi, thousands of miles away, to investigate.

The matter was decided for the time being, and the topic in the lobby returned to before Chen Kai's arrival. Last year, Zheng Zhilong came to the Qing Dynasty and was kidnapped by Prince Boluo for Duanzhong. However, Zheng Chenggong took refuge in Zheng Hongkui and got rid of Zheng Zhilong's control. Since then,

For several months, Zheng Chenggong has been training troops on Nan'ao Island. Yesterday, the Qing government probably got the real news, so it sent someone here to deliver a letter urging surrender.

What the Qing court said was nothing more than using Zheng Zhilong as a threat. Since ancient times, loyalty and filial piety cannot be balanced. Although Zheng Chenggong had already expressed his attitude when Zheng Zhilong surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, when the Qing court really acted like this, he would inevitably have to endure the pain.

A new round of choices.

This is the most important matter for Zheng Chenggong's department in the near future. They discussed it for a long time last night, but in the end they failed to come up with a best-of-both-worlds plan. This time in the Tiger Festival Hall, they were still discussing the matter, but later Chen Kai was

The arrival of the police interrupted them for a while. Perhaps for them, it was also a process of taking a moment to slow down and reorganize their thoughts.

At this moment, Chen Kai had left here, and the new problem had been initially dealt with. Zheng Chenggong soon discovered that the old problem that had originally made him scratch his head seemed to have been solved.

After discussing Chen Kai's arrangement, Zheng Chenggong sent for the envoy from the Fujian Governor's Yamen. In front of the envoy, he wrote a reply on the case. However, this was not a normal reply pattern, but Zheng Chenggong did.

I immediately wrote a poem to express my feelings.

"God has given us hardships and dangers, and we share the same hatred with one heart, one virtue, and the same hatred. The most pitiful thing is that loyalty and filial piety are so difficult to deal with, and I shed tears every time I remember them in the court."

When I wrote this, the pain in my heart about being unable to balance loyalty and filial piety was clearly reflected in my writing. However, Zheng Chenggong looked at it carefully and seemed to be dissatisfied. However, he did not rewrite it, so he simply added at the bottom of the poem.

He added a footnote: "The Grand Master was seduced by the Manchu chieftain, and was forced to surrender. After thinking about it again and again, there was no such thing as the best of both worlds. The angry son did not want to live, so he could only fight bloody battles, go straight to the Yellow Dragon and drink hard, maybe he would be able to welcome his return and finally have his ears nourished.

.It’s so shameless to do nothing!”

"Take this letter and go back. This is my answer."

The envoy left, and Zheng Chenggong simply expressed his feelings to Chen Bao and General Hong Xu. Zheng Zhilong's special status forced them to be cautious. Now that Zheng Chenggong has not changed his original intention, this is what they want to see. It is settled.

With this tone in mind, some things can be brought back to the table for discussion.

It was also because Zheng Zhilong surrendered to the Qing Dynasty. At that time, Boluo forced Zheng Zhilong to write a letter to the generals of the Zheng Group, urging them to follow him and surrender to the Qing Dynasty. In this regard, most of the Fujian Ming troops followed his orders and changed their positions.

There are several exceptions, such as Zheng Chenggong, Zheng Hongkui, Zheng Cai and Zheng Lian brothers.

Zheng Cai and Zheng Lian brothers, these two are Zheng Zhilong's nephews and Zheng Chenggong's brothers. Now they occupy Zhongzuo, Zhongzuo, Zhongzhilong's base camp, which is Xiamen, and the sea trade is basically controlled by them. The two brothers have more troops.

There were no less than 40,000 people, and they were among the strongest members of the Zheng Group who continued to resist the Qing Dynasty.

A few days ago, Zheng Cai sent people to invite Zheng Chenggong to join forces to attack Haicheng County, which is the gateway to Xiamen. It is normal for Zheng Cai to be interested. For Zheng Chenggong, he said that after the capture of Haicheng, he could share more.

.

Zheng Chenggong took over the troops of the Nan'ao Association. The association's original establishment was two battalions, one for Guangdong and one for Fujian. This was right at the junction of Fujian and Guangdong, and had the responsibility of assisting in the defense of the two provinces' maritime borders. However, there were only two battalions originally.

The establishment of a thousand men, and putting aside the bad custom of free pay, is actually only more than a thousand soldiers. Even though Zheng Chenggong recruited a large number of new soldiers, his strength was only three to four thousand, not even one-tenth of Zheng Cai's.

In terms of materials, they only had the treasury of the general town government, which was pitifully small. Zheng Cai's proposal was also quite tempting to them.

"The last general heard that Zheng Cai changed his name to King Lu as his master. He must be planning to use King Lu's tiger skin to inherit the Grand Master's legacy. This person must be guarded against. I'm afraid it may not be the case.

What a good thing."

"Jiu Feng is right, that's what happened." Chen Bao stood up with his palms raised, and then said angrily: "According to the rules of the ancestors, after the father dies, the son succeeds, the elder brother succeeds the younger brother. The grand master goes north, so logically it should be

The surname of Guo leads everyone to make a living, will it be his turn to have a nephew with a common genealogy?"

Zheng Zhilong and his son came from the Zheng family of Ishii, and brothers Zheng Cai and Zheng Lian came from the Zheng family of Gaopu. According to the "Ishii Ben Family Genealogy", Zheng Mian, the ancestor of the Zheng family in Nan'an, Yinshi Gong, once lived in Sanshan, where the Zheng family lived in Gaopu.

That was also what happened when the Zheng family entered Fujian during the Guangqi period of Emperor Dezong of the Tang Dynasty. It may be regarded as "the same family five hundred years ago." The so-called clan nephews are actually just a means to win over, rather than a real blood relationship.

.

The Zheng Group dominates the coastal areas of Fujian and Guangdong. Now that there is no leader, the powerful factions below have their own thoughts. The speculations of Hong Xu and Chen Bao are not groundless. In the previous dispute between Tang and Lu, the Zheng family supported Tang Fan.

, has already offended Lu Fan miserably, and now Zheng Cai has turned to him as his master. If he says that he has no other intentions, even the squid in the sea of ​​Long'ao will not believe it.

This issue had been discussed many times before the Qing envoys arrived, and now the issue has returned to its original point. Pirates annexing each other is nothing new. Now that Zheng Cai is powerful, he has the best chance to reunify Zheng Cai.

The power of the family group, but Zheng Chenggong is the first heir according to etiquette and law, but Chen Bao and Hong Xu can't help but think too much.

Neither of them agreed with this matter. According to their assumptions, Zheng Chenggong should lead them to do it alone. This idea is not without supporters in this miniature version of the Zheng Group. Even Zheng Chenggong has not yet made up his mind.

As soon as Chen Kai's affairs were interrupted, he became even more confused.

After talking and talking for a long time, there was no result from the discussion. At this moment, the housekeeper Zheng San came back with the boy and told him in detail what happened when he went with Chen Kai to say goodbye to the Lin brothers.

Repeated it again.

"Did he give all twenty taels of silver to the two hunters?"

"He actually put that worn-out straw sandal close to his body?"

After getting such a result, Chen Bao and Hong Xu looked at each other, and then looked at Zheng Chenggong. At this time, there was a rare smile on the corner of Zheng Chenggong's mouth.
Chapter completed!