Compared to the Dutch, Zhang Yan and other ministers undoubtedly have a better sense of the Spaniards.
Because the Dutch now actually occupy Dongfan Island, they also harassed the coastal areas of Guangdong and Fujian in the past. This is absolutely intolerable to the current Ming Dynasty.
Therefore, Ma Shiying and other civil servants strongly agreed with Zheng Sen's strategy of first wooing Spain, attacking the Netherlands, and then wooing the Netherlands to fight Spain.
Because this will not only minimize losses, but also minimize the impact on maritime trade.
Zuo Liangyu was the only one with a look of envy and jealousy. He wanted to object, because according to Zheng Sen's strategy, the entire war at sea in the future basically had nothing to do with him, Zuo Liangyu, even in the face of the attack by the fleets of the two countries.
The preparation work will be in vain. How can he be willing to do this?
But he did not dare to oppose Zheng Sen's strategy unreasonably. After all, it was impossible to hide the affairs of the Nanjing court from His Majesty, so he had no choice but to be anxious.
Sure enough, even if Zhang Yan didn't know anything about military matters, she knew that disintegration was the best option. She agreed to Zheng Sen's strategy without hesitation and gave him full responsibility for negotiations with the Spanish.
However, it was limited to regaining Dongfan Island and establishing equal trade with the Spanish. As for wooing the Dutch, attacking Luzon Island, and even attacking the entire Nanyang, Zhang Yan was not very active.
Firstly, due to the influence of traditional thinking, I felt that Zheng Sen was a little too ambitious. Secondly, from now on, His Majesty would have to worry about the expansion of territory. She must not overstep her authority.
Although the Queen Mother was a little conservative, Zheng Sen was still very excited and hurried back to Fujian again the next day.
Zhang Yan also asked the Ministry of Revenue to directly allocate 30,000 yuan, and removed more than 500 low-level officers from the Imperial Guard Army in Nanjing, and removed more than 100 Martial Arts School students from the field army to follow Zheng Sen
Let’s go to Fujian together.
With these more than 600 people, the Fujian Navy can basically be firmly controlled by the imperial court from now on. Zheng Sen not only did not have the slightest resistance to this, but also felt more at ease, not to mention that this was what he took the initiative to report.
As for the old pirates in the Fujian Navy who were ignorant of progress and were in a state of intoxication, they were all transferred to Nanjing to retire and join the huge team of contractors.
As for the stay-and-go list, Zhang Yan left Zheng Sen in full charge and did not send any more officials to intervene.
Regarding this set of tactics for controlling the army, even if Zhu Cixiang did not teach him this time, Zhang Yan was still very good at it, and everyone knew it well.
Obviously the ancients were not stupid. Even Zhang Yan, a woman, could understand Zhu Cixiang's way of controlling the army. She knew what to do without even asking.
The reason why three million taels of silver were allocated in one go was not because Zhang Yan was so generous that he did not take the money seriously, but because the Zheng family owned many shipyards and firearms-making workshops, and Zheng Sen also volunteered this time.
To the court, Zhang Yan asked the court to send someone to take over, but Zhang Yan didn't want the court to have a reputation of plundering, so she compensated the Zheng family with one million taels of silver. After all, the court was not short of money now, what it was short of was people's hearts and harmony.
prestige.
The remaining two million taels are military expenses.
In order to ease Zhengsen's heart, the Ministry of Punishment also settled the issue of Zheng Zhihu's murder of an official. In the end, it only sentenced Zheng Zhihu, an upright example, to be beheaded in public, but his family was not implicated.
Zheng Zhibao took a post in the Nanjing Navy, which was regarded as an equal position, while Zheng Zhilong was completely dismissed from office, and Nanjing once again had a rich man who was sitting on his hands and feet.
After the Portuguese envoy stayed for half a month, he had no choice but to return angrily. Rhodes also felt that the Ming Dynasty's court seemed less easy to fool than before. No matter how much money was spent, no minister was willing to help write a letter to the Queen Mother.
, granting preferential trade treatment to Portugal.
In fact, it's not that the civil servants of the Ming Dynasty don't love money anymore, but everyone knows that the Queen Mother is easy to fool, but His Majesty is not easy to fool. If they really dare to get money for money, and suddenly have the Queen Mother because of private affairs, I'm afraid they will be dismissed from office, ransacked their homes and imprisoned.
Far.
If it were said that His Majesty was really acting as a hands-off boss and completely leaving the military and political affairs of the South to the Queen Mother, I am afraid even the devil would not believe it.
The facts are indeed as the southern civil and military officials suspected. Although Zhu Cihong is in Beijing, he has been paying close attention to every move in the south, especially a series of incidents that have occurred since the beginning of this year.
The reason why I didn't come to Nanjing in person was that I wanted all the problems to be completely exposed. After all, many problems would be hidden when the emperor came.
Secondly, many issues in the north have also reached a critical stage, such as the Tumut tribe on the grasslands, the migration work in the northwest, and the infrastructure construction in the Central Plains. They are also inseparable from his emperor.
The third time came at the beginning of the year when the red lady was finally pregnant. At this time, even if Zhu Cixi wanted to go south, he could not escape to Nanjing.
After all, after the red lady became pregnant, she had to take care of her baby with peace of mind, and most of the Ming Dynasty's field troops were concentrated in the north. For the sake of the stability of the empire, Zhu Cixiang would definitely not leave the capital.
After Zheng Sen returned to Fuzhou, he no longer had any worries. While he began to vigorously reorganize the Third Fleet, he also sent people to Manila in Luzon to negotiate with the Spanish.
After decades of Spanish management, most of Luzon Island, except for some primitive jungles, has been controlled by Spain.
Most of the indigenous people on the island, except for some tribes hiding in the primitive jungles, have been completely tamed by the Spanish and live in the coastal plains.
Most of the Han people live near Manila. The total number of Han people on the island is only 20,000 to 30,000. Among them, only a very small part are landowners who actually run farms or orchards. Most of them live in Manila city and are from the Jiangnan area of Guangdong, Fujian and Jiangnan.
Sent by maritime merchants.
Therefore, the entire city of Manila is very lively. There are Han people, Westerners, and indigenous peoples. The buildings in the city also combine Chinese and Western characteristics. The ships entering and exiting the port are also quite frequent. Chinese and Western-style sailing ships can be seen at a glance. Its prosperity
, and will not lose to any port along the Ming Dynasty.
After all, the Ming Dynasty implemented a no-sea policy in the past, which resulted in no decent ports along the coast. Although maritime merchants in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Guangdong, and Fujian had always engaged in sea trade, at most they were a little more aggressive when the authority of the imperial court declined, and the imperial administration
Be a little strict when it comes to strictness.
But no matter how rampant they are, they would not dare to have dozens or hundreds of sea-going ships moored at the port together to load and unload cargo. Most of them choose to go to sea at night.
Although it has been two or three years since Zhu Cixiang opened the sea ban, it was too short after all, and for better management and tax collection, only seven ports were opened in total, two in Guangdong, one in Fujian, two in the south of the Yangtze River, and two in the north.
I'm afraid that now including Macau, there are only eight treaty ports.