Zheng Zhilong was in his early thirties, with a face like a crown jade and handsome appearance. It was rumored at sea that he was favored by Li Dan because he had a good skin. People talked eloquently and banned him endlessly. He was wearing a python robe and a jade belt.
, crown hat, soap boots, and a graceful demeanor in every gesture, which is completely different from the rough and wild thieves around him. He stands out from the crowd. He doesn't look like a pirate at all, but more like a high-ranking official of the Ming Dynasty.
Anping, Zheng Zhilong's hometown in Quanzhou, is close to the sea. It has many merchants since ancient times. As early as the Tang Dynasty, Anping merchants had been sailing overseas and doing business. Since the Ming Dynasty, especially after the Longqing Switch, Anping people's overseas trade has reached its peak. It is known as "Anping has many good merchants.
"There are many shops, and travelers float on the sea." "Only Binhai is home to island barbarians, and Anping is the most famous among them." Zheng Zhilong's mother's family, the Huang family, is a family of maritime merchants. Zheng Zhilong went to Macau from his maternal uncle Huang Cheng as a young boy, and later settled in
Li Dan, a wealthy businessman, traveled to Japan and Luzon.
As the Dutch invaded Taiwan, Zheng Zhilong was assigned by Li Dan to translate for the Dutch in Tongyi language, and to bridge the gap between the two sides, Zheng Zhilong became Li Dan's spokesperson in Taiwan. Three years ago, in the fourth year of the Apocalypse, the Japanese shogunate banned Luzon Spain.
When people came to fly, Zheng Zhilong saw that the prosperous Japan and Luzon routes in the past had completely declined. The Japan and Macau routes were also in decline. The future would definitely be dominated by the triangular route between Ming Dynasty, Taiwan and Japan.
When Li Dan died in the fifth year of the Apocalypse, Zheng Zhilong lost his money and wanted to take Li Dan's place to do business with the Dutch. However, the Dutch did not pay much attention to this former translator because they had a better choice - Xu Xinsu from Zhangzhou.
Li Dan's spokesperson in the Ming Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty government did not allow merchants to trade with the Dutch, but Xu Xinsu was the commander-in-chief of the Ming Dynasty. He had an official status and was connected with Yu Zigao, the commander-in-chief of Fujian Province. The Dutch could continuously obtain smuggled goods from him. This is
Zheng Zhilong, who is alone overseas, cannot do this.
Zheng Zhilong was unwilling to be excluded, so the only way was to imitate Xu Xinsu and put on the mantle of an official, so he funded the South Australian thieves Yang Liu and Yang Qi, who were between Guangzhou and Fujian, in order to recruit people through them. In the end, brothers Yang Liu and Yang Qi led the big and small gangs.
Seventy-two warships and more than 3,000 people surrendered to Fujian General Yu Zigao, but Zheng Zhilong was excluded. The reason why Xu Xinsu and Yu Zigao accepted Yang Liu and Yang Qi was because they were from humble backgrounds, and even if they joined, they could only serve as their
Minions, there is no threat, but Zheng Zhilong is different. Behind him is the Huang family, a maritime merchant family, and countless Anping merchants, which is difficult to control.
Zheng Zhilong's future was cut off, and he hated Xu Xinsu, Yu Zigao, Yang Liu, Yang Qi and others in his heart. He simply stopped doing nothing and summoned the heroes at sea to plot against Fujian and break the predicament.
Zheng Zhilong was not a brainless person. On the contrary, he came from a family of officials, with far-reaching vision and extraordinary knowledge. He had sufficient considerations to choose to invade Fujian at this time. Recently, the bureaucrats and the eunuchs were fighting, distrusting and criticizing each other. Nan Juyi, the governor of Fujian
He had made great contributions in expelling the Netherlands and recovering Penghu. Although he promised to "recover a piece of Penghu territory for the country and eliminate a century-old hidden trouble for the Fujian people", in the fifth year of Tianqi's reign, because of Wei Zhongxian's "attempt to enshrine him, he would not do anything for his merits."
, all of them are for themselves." However, there was not a word of praise in Nanju Yishu, so he was brutally persecuted by Wei Zhongxian.
In the same year, Prime Minister Zhu Qin was appointed governor of Fujian. Originally, the Fujian Chief Secretary's Western Treasury stored 370,000 taels of silver, which was reserved for maritime defense. Nan Juyi spent 170,000 taels when expelling the red barbarians, and still had 190,000 taels of real silver.
With more than three thousand taels, Wei Zhongxian actually ordered the Ministry of Industry to expel the accumulated silver to support the construction. The coastal defense reserves were misappropriated by Wei Zhongxian under the power of Wei Zhongxian. The coastal defense of Penghu and Fujian was greatly weakened, and the bandits from the Fujian Sea became increasingly powerful.
In the sixth year of the Apocalypse, the governor Zhu Qinxiang was replaced again, and Zhu Yifeng was appointed as the new governor of Fujian. However, "there are no traces of executions in the vassal treasury! Public and private reports are lacking." It was no longer possible to encircle and suppress the pirates at sea, so recruiting peace to the pirates became a temporary strategy.
, this shows the weakness of Fujian's coastal defense...
In addition, since the fifth year of Tianqi, there has been a severe drought in Fujian, and today, in the first month of the seventh year of Qi, there has been no rain for the past two years. Rural people are hungry and eat bark from bark. There is no doubt that this is a dangerous powder keg.
It can completely detonate it. Zheng Zhilong planned to invade Fujian in order to light a fire and burn Fujian severely so that Yu Zigao and others would taste the price of contempt for him.
It is inconvenient for Zheng Zhilong to express these ideas to the thieves, and most of them will not understand even if he does. He only needs to tell them that Fujian's officers and soldiers are weak and the people's lives are poor, and this attack on Fujian will be smooth sailing. In the final analysis, Zheng Zhilong regards the thieves as
Tools, tools to achieve one's own goals, and I look down on these rough people without foresight from the bottom of my heart.
Zheng Zhilong was chatting with the thieves with a smile when he suddenly caught a glimpse of his second brother Zheng Zhihu walking in with striding strides. Zheng Zhihu was in his twenties, with a strong build, a Chinese-character face with thick hair and thick eyebrows, a broad forehead, and his eyes were full of energy as they gazed.
He is wearing a colorful flying fish suit in Qing Dynasty, which is called Flying Fish. In fact, it has claws and fangs, a majestic head and horns, a beard and a mane, and the coils on his body are no different from those of a python dragon. Zheng Zhihu's nickname is Li Er. He is not old and has great martial arts skills.
He is so extraordinary that he can be said to be an invincible opponent in Taiwan. There is a saying at sea that "the dragon is wise and the tiger is brave", which praises Zheng Zhilong for his intelligence and praises Zheng Zhilong for his martial prowess.
Zheng Zhilong asked: "Second brother, what's the matter?"
Zheng Zhihu seemed to have some scruples and did not say anything directly. He whispered, "Lao Zhou is here."
Zheng Zhilong turned his head and looked at Zheng Zhihu in surprise. He had always been here on Wednesday, why should he be so cautious?
Zheng Zhihu solemnly said: "He is sailing the warship No. 50 this time, with a crew of two to three thousand. I am afraid that the person who comes here is not good."
"Fifty warships..." Zheng Zhilong was slightly surprised. According to his intelligence, Mr. Zhou had more than sixty ships in total, and almost all of them came out this time. He didn't want Shacheng or Dachenshan? Zheng Zhilong's thoughts changed.
, then regained his composure, and shouted to another group of people not far away: "Zhiqi, come here."
Li Zhiqi turned around after hearing this. He was about the same age as Zheng Zhilong, in his thirties, with a medium-to-lower stature, a strong body, and a rough face. People who didn't know him would have thought him to be a reckless man at first glance.
But people who really know him know that this man's scheming and martial arts skills are equal, and his martial arts skills are enough to rival Zheng Zhihu.
Speaking of Li Zhiqi, few people in Fujian know about it, but when it comes to Li Kuiqi, it can be said that everyone knows about it. This name represents Fujian's leading maritime tycoon, and even the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty are afraid of him. Zheng Zhilong not long ago joined forces with the Eighteenth
People, formed the Eighteen Zhi, considered the precursor, so Li Kuiqi changed his name to Li Zhiqi. Among the Eighteen Zhi, there are Zheng Zhilong's brothers Zheng Zhihu, Zheng Zifeng, clan brothers Zheng Zhipeng, Zheng Zhiwan, etc., as well as heroes with foreign surnames Li Zhiqi, Guo Zhikui, Guo Zhilan, Fang Zhiji
, Brother Chizhi, etc. It is no exaggeration to say that the Eighteen Zhizhi is 10%, and no one in the huge Fujian Sea can compete with Zheng Zhilong.
When Li Zhiqi came closer, Zheng Zhilong said with a smile: "Brother Zhou is here. I have a lot of things to do here and I can't get away for the time being. You and he are sworn brothers and we have a very close relationship. Please come and run for me."
Li Zhiqi smiled and said, "This guy can't help but say that he came when I told people about him. Okay, I'll pick him up." After that, he turned and left.
Zheng Zhihu frowned and said, "Brother, the two of them..."
Zheng Zhilong understood what his second brother was worried about, and said confidently: "It doesn't matter, even if the two of them join forces, it will be difficult to shake my position."
Huang Chen lay on the side of the ship, staring at a towering ship opposite, his greed undisguised. After all, he owned fifteen ships, including four ships that were more than ten feet tall. Said ship that could make him tempted.
Not much truth. This huge ship is more than fifteen feet long and about fifty meters long. It is the largest sea ship he has seen since he came to this era. If it stopped at this, it would not make him lose his temper. There are three masts high on the surface of the ship.
, there are traditional hard sails of the Ming Dynasty stacked under the mast, but its hull is similar to a bird ship, and it has dense gun windows. The Ming Dynasty artillery has always been placed on the deck. This ship obviously has a Western style.
"What's going on? A Western hull with Chinese sails?" Huang Chen stared blankly at the weird combination of Chinese and Western things in front of him and muttered to himself.
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Taiwanese foreign records and other books record that Zheng Zhilong was born in 1604. In other words, Zheng Zhilong was only 24 years old in the book when he attacked Fujian, which was the seventh year of Tianqi (1627 AD). This is too unreliable. As early as Zheng Keshuang's time, Zheng Zhilong's
The year of birth is unknown. The "Epitaph of Zheng's Nephew's Grandfather" records the birth dates of Zheng Zhilong's wife Weng, Zheng Chenggong, Chenggong's eldest son Zheng Jing, Zheng Chenggong's wife Dong, and Zheng Jing's wife Tang, a total of three generations, except Zheng Zhilong.
Year of birth. The most reliable theory at present is that Zheng Zhilong was born around 159x.
Another note: In 1628, or at the latest in 1629, Xiong Wencan, the governor of Fujian, was able to build a Western-style gunboat with a Chinese hull and sails. How magnificent I am, Mr. Xiong, who is corrupt and incompetent...