Section 60 The Warring States Period in Zhangzhou Bay
Jinjiang County School is usually very quiet, but now that it houses hundreds of people from the Zheng family, it has become very noisy. The voices of adults are talking, and the children are crying and laughing. In the hall, young people who are living and cooking appear from time to time.
cigarette.
Fortunately, the Zheng family and shopkeepers of the Zheng Group who escaped with Zheng Zhiwan and the families of the generals have been living here since they fled into Jinjiang County. The Zheng Group has great power in Jinjiang and Nan'an counties.
Few people owned property, so those with wealth quickly went to live with relatives and friends or lived in their own villages. The people in the county school gradually dispersed. However, the bastards who escaped from Anping City were able to live far away.
The clan members of the tribe, the families of the middle and lower-level personnel, the separated servants, clerks and soldiers have nowhere to go. They are waiting here to return to Anping.
In the hall at the back of the county school, hundreds of people gathered in the hall, wing rooms and courtyards. Many of them were dark-skinned black soldiers, and many were Japanese samurai with tachi.
After Tongtaro and his team escaped from Kinmen Island with Zheng Sen, they did not dare to stay on the shore for a long time. After all, Tongtaro was a foreigner and was not very familiar with the geography of the coast, so they took Zheng Sen and fled to a place he had visited many times.
, Jinjiang County is the most familiar route.
Along the way, Tongtaro took in many stragglers and fled all the way to Jinjiang. Many Zheng family members who had escaped from Jinxia and Anping had gathered in Jinjiang County.
However, Zheng Zhiwan, who had the highest status in the city, seemed to have no interest in the heir of the Zheng family. He did not even pay a formal visit. He only sent a servant to bring some money, rice and clothes, and he was never heard from again.
Except for Zheng Zhiwan, the Zheng Group seemed to have forgotten them, and no one came to ask Tongtaro and his party. Such indifference surprised Tongtaro: the head of the family was dead, and the young people left behind
The Lord was the natural heir, so why didn't anyone come to support him? He initially thought that the others didn't know that Zheng Sen had pulled out the tiger's mouth. So he sent people around to look for the escaped members of the Eighteen Zhi, especially Zheng's "one
"Everyone", but so far, no one has come.
The stragglers gathered in the county school all regard the young master as a life-saving straw - they are all lower class and do not have much savings. Once the Zheng family is destroyed, they will become unemployed and homeless. Of course, they all hope that the young master can inherit the family head.
Position, I at least have a sense of "shared adversity".
Although Tongtaro didn't know much about the power struggle within the Zheng Group, he also knew that it would be very difficult to bring the Zheng family together after the commander-in-chief Zheng Zhilong was gone.
There is no formal problem with Zheng Zhilong's eldest son, Zheng Sen, inheriting his father's throne. But Zheng Sen is only seven years old this year, and anyone with a discerning eye knows that he will not be able to lead the Zheng family through the crisis.
When Zheng Sen ascends the throne, he must have strong assistants to control the situation.
Logically speaking, this is a good opportunity to bring the emperor with him to command the princes. There are many examples in China and Japan of assisting the young lord's powerful ministers to usurp power and dominate. Zheng Sen should be the one who is the favorite, but I didn't expect it.
Actually no one cared about it at all.
Even Zheng Zhilong's brothers did not express their intention to assist his nephew. Only Zheng Zhifeng sent people to send money and rice, saying that Anping, Kinmen and Xiamen were all reduced to rubble and could not be resettled for a while. They could only continue to live in the county school.
.Then there was nothing left to do. After all, Toutaro was a foreigner and could do nothing about it.
In these days, only Matos, who had narrowly escaped death, came here with dozens of remnants of the black guard, but this non-Portuguese mixed-race man could not give any advice.
Now the only person Toutaro can discuss with is Qian Taichong.
This Qian Taichong was originally an ordinary case master under a certain Zheng Zhipeng. It is said that he was originally from Cantonese and was recommended to make a living. Now that his master died in the war, he has become a jobless vagrant.
Tongtaro felt that Qian Taichong was a very mysterious person. Although he was a scholar, he had dark skin and a strong body. His hands and feet were covered with calluses, and he looked like a man from a hard-working background. Once, Tongtaro saw him fetching water for a bath.
I found that there were many scars on his body, as if he had been on the battlefield.
But Qian Taichong almost never talked about his past affairs, and often sat alone in a daze. It was not until a few days ago that Tongtaro wanted to invite an envoy to be a lobbyist for Zheng Zhifeng that he had a relationship with Qian Taichong.
Tongtaro believed that Zheng Zhifeng was Zheng Sen's uncle and one of the powerful members of the Zheng family, so it was most appropriate for him to assist the young master. So he always tried to persuade him. But he was a Japanese warrior after all, and it was difficult to be a lobbyist.
It was difficult, so he fell in love with this taciturn scholar.
Qian Taichong took the money without saying a word. He came back a few days later and found nothing except a few hundred taels of silver.
"He is unwilling to send someone to greet the young master?!" Tongtaro was extremely disappointed.
"I just want to say that Kinmen Island is currently in ruins, and there are many corpses that have not been cleaned and buried. The young master has moved there, and his daily life has been inconvenient. I also ask the young master to rest in Jinjiang for a while."
"Asshole!" Tongtaro scolded, "My master's body is still cold, and they are already treating the young master like this!"
It makes sense for Tongtaro to be so angry, because yesterday he sent an envoy to Zheng Zhiwan and asked him to clear out a farm owned by the Zheng family in Jinjiang County and let Zheng Sen and his party move in - No. 100
People living in county schools have many inconveniences.
Unexpectedly, Zheng Zhiwan, who had already accepted all the Zheng family's farms in Jinjiang County, actually refused on the grounds that "the banditry has not been cleared up and it is not safe to live outside the city."
"It seems that the only option is to find brother Zheng Lian and Zheng Cai..." Tongtaro was at a loss.
"Isn't looking for them seeking skin from a tiger?" Qian Taichong said.
Tongtaro was stunned. Until now, this scholar had not expressed any specific opinions. Now that he was willing to express his own opinions, he couldn't help but cheer up and said quickly: "What about your noble opinion, sir?"
"No Gao Jian, but even my uncles and nephews are unwilling to come forward, let alone they are outsiders." Qian Taichong said a little lonely, "The two brothers of the Zheng family used to be an independent force. Later, they defected to the general. It was because they borrowed
The power of the general, now that the general is dead and they have occupied Xiamen Island, they probably plan to do their own business, so why should they support the young master?"
Totaro was deeply disappointed.
"Xiamen Island has become the domain of brothers Zheng Lian and Zheng Cai, right?!"
"There are now seven heroes in the Warring States Period in Zhangzhou Bay." Qian Taichong said disdainfully, "They are all thinking about their own plans, but they have nothing to do with the young master."
While Zheng Sen and others were sitting in Xue Kong in Jinjiang County, members of the Eighteen Zhi who were not killed or captured were fiercely fighting over the corpses of the Zheng Group.
Zheng Zhifeng, the strongest, occupied Kinmen Island, Zheng Zhibao occupied Little Kinmen Island, and brothers Zheng Lian and Zheng Cai occupied Xiamen Island. Although Zheng Zhiwan moved quickly when escaping from Anping, he heard that the Kun thieves had withdrawn from Anping and immediately
He armed the villagers on his farm and used his own soldiers and servants to "recover" Anping with great fanfare.
The rest of the Zheng family will either join a certain force or occupy a small island in Zhangzhou Bay. Some of them are weak and unsure of the wind direction, so they lean on the shore or enter the Jiulong River or Shijing River to wait and see what happens. The huge Zheng family
The group seemed to be falling apart.
Although the Zheng Group has been established in the hands of Zheng Zhilong, the internal cohesion is still very weak, and it is basically maintained by Zheng Zhilong's personal prestige. At present, the Zheng Group has suffered unprecedented heavy losses, and the leader and a large number of backbones are fighting again
Death, the shortcomings of weak cohesion were immediately exposed.
In this sea where everyone has a boat and someone is the Caotou King, the title of Zheng Zhilong's legitimate son is of no use. He has no direct power under his name. After Zheng Zhilong's death, the remaining troops, ships and property were quickly divided up by the survivors among the group's senior leaders.
Lost it. Except for Zheng Zhilong’s black guards and Japanese guards, no one took him seriously.
As for the generals and shopkeepers, they are weak and can only rely on one side. It is even more impossible to place their future on a seven-year-old child.
"It's a pity that I don't have any soldiers." Although Tongtaro only experienced the end of the troubled times of the Warring States Period, he knew the importance of force. However, in this tragic defeat, the Black Guards and the Japanese Guards suffered heavy losses, including those killed, captured, and separated.
, almost completely lost.
"The people gathered here now are probably willing to follow the young master." Qian Taichang said suddenly.
"How many people can there be?" Tongtaro said. "With my men and Matos's, the total is less than two hundred people." Tongtaro suddenly understood what Qian Taichong meant and asked:
"You mean..."
"It doesn't matter if we have a small number of people, as long as we dare to fight, we are still better than a mob." Qian Taichong's eyes flashed, "Besides, we may not need to fight."
Although the Zheng Group has been divided, they are still of the same clan. The current situation will not lead to fighting among the same clan, but various forms of struggles around leadership will be inevitable. At such a moment,
The number of janissaries is indeed a key issue, but it is by no means the main issue.
Tongtaro realized that this scholar had a clear plan and was a "strategist". He was now lacking someone who could come up with ideas, so he quickly said: "Please teach me, Mr. Qian!"
Qian Taichong smiled: "General Tong, you are from Japan, why do you want to protect the young master from taking the throne? What does the survival of the Zheng family have to do with you?"
"This is the general's final entrustment." Tongtaro said loudly, "We were forced to run away from Japan. We have been serving under the general for these years, so we have no worries about food and clothing, and live a comfortable life. Shouldn't we repay our kindness?"
"Haha, that's good!" Qian Taichong nodded, "Then I'll help you."