Zheng Sen had considered this when he came, so when faced with Zuo Liangyu's questioning, he did not continue to defend his second uncle, but tried his best to put the blame on Zheng Zhihu alone and put the Zheng family aside.
"To the Queen Mother, if the matter is true, then Zheng Zhihu must confiscate his family and bring justice. Otherwise, the dignity of the imperial court will be lost. If Zheng Zhilong is not strict in controlling his subordinates, he should be dismissed from his post. Others will not be implicated!"
Ma Shiying was silent for a while and then said slowly.
He was not speaking for the Zheng family, but he did not want to make the matter a big deal. The Queen Mother and Zuo Liangyu did not know the strength of the Zheng family, but he knew everything.
Once the entire Zheng family is really labeled as rebels, the entire Zheng family and all their subordinates will inevitably be implicated.
When the time comes, suppression will not only delay time, but also affect the implementation of the New Deal. It may also force the Zheng family to flee overseas again and become pirates, robbing merchant ships and harassing coastal areas.
As the deputy minister of the Ming Dynasty who was actually responsible for the government affairs of the southern provinces, Ma Shiying was unwilling to have this situation arise, so he wanted to cut the knot quickly, dismissing Zheng Zhilong from his post and reprimanding him, punishing Zheng Zhihu, and distributing his family members.
"What Mr. Mage said is wrong. In the early years, the Zheng family was unscrupulous and tyrannical in Fujian. They were called officers and soldiers, but they were actually pirates. They not only killed countless people in Fujian, but also extorted merchant ships. People and gods have long been angry, and they have no regard for the imperial court.
There is no sense of awe, this official killing incident is the best proof, if it is not suppressed, the prestige of the imperial court will be gone!"
Zuo Liangyu stood up tit for tat, cupped his hands and said slowly.
Zheng Sen on the side saw Zuo Liangyu mentioning those things about sesame seeds and rotten millet, and he also hated Zuo Liangyu.
Ma Shiying, on the other hand, was also so angry that he rolled his eyes with contempt in his heart.
Because in the Chongzhen Dynasty, which general was the most arrogant and domineering, making people and gods angry, and showing no respect for the imperial court, it was definitely Zuo Liangyu. Now he has the nerve to talk about the Zheng family, which is simply shameless.
This guy dared to speak so brazenly in front of the Queen Mother and mention such nonsense. If His Majesty were here in person, he would not even dare to say anything. He is as well-behaved as a cat.
"The Ai family will investigate the right and wrong. The imperial court will not wrongly accuse you of the Zheng family, nor will it shield and condone you. Zheng Sen, please go back first!"
The content of the letter written by the governor of Fujian was that the Zheng family obstructed the New Deal, killed officials, and were suspected of treason. Now that Zheng Sen said this again, Zhang Yan didn't know who to believe, so she planned to ask Jin Yiwei to investigate the matter clearly and then report it to Hong'er for a decision.
After all, this matter involves too much. Once the Zheng family is really labeled as a rebel who obstructs the New Deal, given Xun'er's temperament, I am afraid that the entire Zheng family will be exterminated to frighten other big families.
That's why she didn't want to end up involving innocent people because of her biased listening and believing. For example, Zheng Sen must be innocent.
"Thank you Queen Mother for your understanding!"
"But the student still has something to report to the Queen Mother!"
Zheng Sen was very satisfied with such a result. He was afraid that the Queen Mother might misunderstand the slander, so he directly issued an order to suppress the Zheng family.
After all, the Zheng family has really become popular over the years and has offended many people, especially civil servants in Fujian and maritime merchants in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. They absolutely hate the Zheng family to the core.
So he knew that even if the Queen Mother handled this matter fairly in the end, the Zheng family's final fate would probably not be much better.
"Tell me, what's going on?"
Not only Zhang Yan, but also other people were also curious. Apart from this incident, did Zheng Sen have anything else that needed to be reported?
"Reporting to the Queen Mother, there is an island east of Fujian, called Dongfan Island, also known as Ryukyu Island. It has been the territory of our Ming Dynasty since ancient times. This island is huge in area and is extremely important to our southeastern coastal defense of the Ming Dynasty. But now it has been destroyed by thousands of miles away.
If we leave it unchecked if we let it be left unchecked by the foreigners, it will not only undermine the majesty of our dynasty and your majesty’s holy name, but it will also cause endless troubles.”
"Oh, there is such a thing. Are the Xiyi people from the wealthy family of Guangdong?"
When Zhang Yan heard this, her expression became positive.
Because she knew that Xinger wanted to be the emperor that would surpass the Qin Emperor and the Han Dynasty. If a small Western Yi country occupied the territory of the Ming Dynasty, it would definitely affect Xinger's reputation, and Xinger would never let it go.
Ma Shiying and other civil servants also cheered up, and Zuo Liangyi's eyes lit up. Obviously, what Zhang Yan could think of, they could also think of.
As the saying goes, what goes up and what goes below leads to results. What kind of emperor there is, there will be what kind of ministers and generals.
In fact, as the emperor, Zhu Cixi didn't need to say some things at all. The ministers and generals under him could infer his attitude and make changes in order to cater to the emperor.
The best proof is that the entire Jiangnan literati are learning Arabic numerals and arithmetic.
The matter of Macau and Dongfan Island was brought to the court not long after, which is also the best proof.
Otherwise, no one would have reported these matters to the Chongzhen Dynasty and other emperors.
Because most emperors have the attitude that doing more is worse than doing less, and only want the stability of the world. If you report these things, you will only annoy the emperor.
"To report to the Queen Mother, it is not the Portuguese from Guangdong who occupy Dongfan Island, but the Dutch..."
Zheng Sen was not surprised that Zhang Yan couldn't tell the difference between the Dutch and the Portuguese, so he explained the situation of the three Western countries in detail, telling almost everything he knew.
Everyone was greatly enlightened after hearing this, and Zhang Yan was equally astonished. She did not expect that there were so many small countries thousands of miles away in the west, and that there were large tracts of land thousands of miles away in the east.
"In that case, the Dutch and Spanish are indeed abominable. Not only have they repeatedly harassed our coast of the Ming Dynasty, but now they even live in Dongfan Island. Zheng Sen, I wonder how big Dongfan is, and are there still Han Chinese on the island?"
Zhang Yan first scolded Holland and Spain with a straight face, then looked at Zheng Sen and asked kindly.
Obviously, Zhang Yan also saw that Zheng Sen was talented, courageous, and a rare talent. She had already developed a love for talents in her heart, and planned to recommend him to Xun after the Zheng family's affairs were investigated.
Son.
Zheng Sen could naturally feel that the Queen Mother's attitude towards him had changed, and he was very happy in his heart. He quickly replied: "Back to the Queen Mother, the area of Dongfan Island is very huge. Students estimate that it should be at least half the size of Zhejiang, and there are many
Years ago, my father migrated many Han people to the island to open up wasteland. Later, after my father returned to the imperial court, he no longer cared about things on the island. Over time, some of the Han people on the island returned to Fujian, and the rest were captured by the Spanish.
If you kill people, or become slaves and let them build port castles, the consequences will be extremely miserable!"
"How dare those Spaniards dare to be so rampant and wantonly kill and enslave our Han people? Zheng Sen, in this case, your father is also to blame?"
Zuo Liangyu said with an angry look.
I don't know if I'm really angry or just pretending.
But Zhang Yan was really pretty and angry. It was okay for the slaves and the Mongols to bully the Ming Dynasty with their cavalry, but she never expected that even a small country thousands of miles away would dare to offend the Ming Dynasty, especially the Ming Dynasty.
The Netherlands, which has less than one house.
But while she was angry, Zhang Yan was also shocked by the huge area of Dongfan Island. It was as big as more than half of Zhejiang, and was larger than Qiongzhou Island.