Yongli Ming Dynasty

Chapter 102: Pingguo
In the Governor's Office, a young man in a dragon robe sat behind a desk, and below him was a burly middle-aged man with iron chains on his hands.

Lin Cha looked at the calm Regent behind the table. His face, which had been dead silent, suddenly became tense.

When he was first taken to Zhaoqing, he was terrified.
But after he was taken to the imperial prison, no one cared about him anymore. The interrogation and torture he had imagined along the way were not really what he wanted.

During these days, the Jinyifu was either busy dealing with the rebel officials or confiscating their property. Due to the shortage of manpower, a group of soldiers were urgently selected from the army to fill the Jinyifu, which barely maintained the operation of the Jinyifu.
Among the people dealt with by Jinyiwei recently, the lowest one was a seventh-rank official, and the silver that passed through his hands was in the hundreds of thousands of taels.
The Fuzhou garrison commander was a military man, so who would bother with such a small fry?
However, the cold attitude of Jinyiwei did not make Lin Cha relax, but made him more desperate.

He didn't know whether the Tang King was really plotting treason, but he knew he was absolutely innocent.
He was a garrison commander in Fuzhou. If the Qing army had not invaded Fujian Province, he probably wouldn't have been able to even approach the Tang King. How could he have conspired with the Tang King to rebel?

But all his reasons were useless. In cases of treason, the wrong person would rather be killed than let go.
The Jinyiwei's cold attitude towards him now is not because they are ready to let him go, but because of his level, he is not even worth interrogating.
As long as the King of Tang finds him guilty, his final fate will most likely be to be labeled as an accomplice of the rebellion and be executed directly.
But today, Lin Cha was suddenly informed by the Jinyiwei that His Royal Highness the Regent wanted to see him, which made him want to survive again.
Who is not afraid of death? If he was not afraid of death, why did he flee Fuzhou before the Qing army arrived?
If he knew that he would be executed on such a ridiculous charge after arriving in Guangzhou, he would rather defend Fuzhou City to death than come to Guangdong Province. In this way, he could at least have a reputation for being loyal to his country.

Zhu Lang looked at the silent man with chains below him and spoke softly.

"You are a general under Zheng Zhilong"

"Yes, I joined the Zheng family in my early years and followed them on their maritime business. After I surrendered to the imperial court, I served as a general under the command of Duke Ping and joined the Fujian Provincial Army."

"During the Longwu reign, he was rewarded by the imperial court and appointed as the garrison commander of the city gate of Fuzhou"

Lin Cha spoke in a deep voice, and then remained silent.

Lin Cha's face turned pale, and the glimmer of hope that had just risen in his heart was instantly extinguished.

Just from the words of His Highness the Regent, he knew why His Highness wanted to see him today.
His Highness came to see him today not to ask about treason. If that was what His Highness cared about, then he still had a chance to survive, because he was really innocent.

But His Highness mentioned Zheng Zhilong. He summoned him today to ask about Zheng Zhilong's situation.

Lin Cha laughed at himself in his heart. Yes, he was just a small garrison commander. Apart from knowing some information about Zheng Zhilong in Fujian Province, what else could he know that was worthy of being summoned by His Majesty the Regent?
Seeing Lin Cha was silent again, Zhu Lang sneered.

"Traveling merchants? They are pirates on the sea, right?"

Lin Cha heard this without any surprise on his face. After the Zheng family was established in the Longwu Dynasty, it had become so large that no one could ignore it.
During the entire Longwu Dynasty, almost half of the court officials were people planted by the Zheng family, and the army was completely dominated by the Zheng family. It is not an exaggeration to say that it was the Zheng family's private army.
The situation of the Zheng family has long been on the desks of all parties and has been repeatedly studied. It is not surprising that His Royal Highness Gui Jianguo knows the details of the Zheng family.

In other words, even if the Ming Dynasty knew that Zheng Zhilong was still smuggling and stealing at sea, what could the court do?
Emperor Longwu couldn't do anything to the Zheng family, and Gui Jianguo also couldn't do anything to the Zheng family. If Gui Jianguo knew what was good for him, he would even try to win over the Zheng family in a nice way.
Unless the imperial court is not prepared to take Fujian Province, it is now that the Ming Dynasty cannot do without the Zheng family, rather than the Zheng family cannot do without the Ming Dynasty. This has been a consensus in the imperial court since the Longwu Dynasty.
Zhu Lang saw that Lin Cha below was silent, but he didn't care and said

“How did Fuzhou fall?”

"On October 14, Duke Ping suddenly led his army out of Fuzhou City and retreated to Anping, leaving me, two other garrisons and more than a thousand men to guard Fuzhou."

"On October 16, the Qing army's vanguard cavalry suddenly appeared outside Fuzhou City. Fuzhou City was in chaos and the people rushed to flee. I saw that Fuzhou was difficult to defend and prepared to leave. However, I encountered the King of Tang who was also fleeing on the road."

"I was rewarded by the court during the Longwu reign and was promoted to a general. I thought that the King of Tang was the younger brother of the late emperor, so I decided to escort the King of Tang to Guangzhou to repay the court's kindness." "I really met the King of Tang and his entourage outside Fuzhou. There were also many royal family members in the King of Tang's entourage, and they can also prove that I met the King of Tang by chance outside Fuzhou. I really didn't know that the rebel king had such a cunning plot. This matter really has nothing to do with me."

As Lin Cha spoke, he could not help but cry out for his injustice. He had originally intended to flee to Anping and continue to seek refuge with Zheng Zhilong, but on the way he met a large group of royal family members led by the King of Tang.
He abandoned the city and fled back to Anping. No matter what the reason was, Zheng Zhilong would definitely punish him severely.

So when he saw the Tang king and his clan members, he had an idea. If he could escort so many clan members to escape, no matter who came to power in the future, he would have done a great deed.

Moreover, the Tang prince has a special status. Now that Emperor Longwu has passed away, it is possible that the ministers will continue to support the Tang prince as the emperor in the future. If this is true, wouldn't Lin Cha have been awarded the title of "follower of the dragon" for nothing?

Moreover, the Qing army had not yet arrived, and there was not much danger on the road. That was why Lin Cha decided to escort the King of Tang to Guangzhou.
Who would have thought that they would be caught by the Jinyiwei just two days after arriving in Guangzhou?
Lin Cha thought about this matter these days and couldn't help but feel angry. This King Tang is really a fool. Since you are planning to rebel and you know that Guangdong Province has appointed a new regent, you actually went to the government office to ask for the salary of the vassal king. Isn't this courting death?
It's the King of Tang who deserves not to be the emperor!
After Lin Cha finished speaking, he looked up at His Royal Highness the Regent with expectation, but Zhu Lang did not even look at Lin Cha below.
Zhu Lang frowned slightly. This Zheng Zhilong was really generous. Fuzhou was the capital of Fujian Province. In order to surrender to the Qing Dynasty, he gave up such a big city before the Qing army arrived.

If you want to surrender to the Qing Dynasty, shouldn't you occupy the big city gates to make people afraid so that you can raise the price?
Now that most of Fujian Province has been given to the Qing army, and the Qing army has taken everything, who would care about you, Zheng Zhilong?

Zheng Zhilong was born into a maritime merchant family. How could he do business like this? I really don't know what Zheng Zhilong was thinking.

Zhu Lang remained silent, and the atmosphere in the room suddenly became solemn. Lin Cha looked at the gloomy look on the prince's face, and was afraid, so he did not dare to speak out to plead for himself.

Now he only hoped to reveal some useful information so that His Highness would spare his life. If he angered His Highness again, he would have no chance of survival.

Zhu Lang frowned. Since Zheng Zhilong had given up Fuzhou, he must have surrendered to the Qing Dynasty.

The entire Fujian Province has fallen. The Qing army has no scruples and will probably soon march into Chaozhou and attack Guangdong Province.

Zhu Lang became even more annoyed when he thought of this. He had to defend Ganzhou and Chaozhou. Why was Guangdong Province leaking air? There was no peace anywhere.

He glanced at Lin Cha below and said in a cold voice
"Who is the Duke of Ping you are talking about? Since Zheng Zhilong surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, why didn't he surrender with him? What position did he hold under Zheng Zhilong? How many troops did he have? How did he behave? He was a loyal and upright minister to the court."

Zhu Lang's eyes flickered slightly. He remembered that there were huge disagreements within the Zheng family about surrendering to the Qing Dynasty. Otherwise, Zheng Chenggong would not have been able to rise again.
When Zheng Zhilong surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, most of the Zheng family must have surrendered as well. However, there should be some people in the Zheng family who were unwilling to surrender, such as the Duke of Pingguo.
Although this man abandoned Fuzhou, he did not directly follow Zheng Zhilong to surrender to the Qing army, but led his troops to retreat. It is obvious that he was hesitant about surrendering to the Qing court.
These people are worth pursuing.
He might be able to contact this group of people and have them harass the Qing army in the rear of Fujian Province, slowing down the Qing army's attack on Guangdong Province.
I won't say too much, just give it a break for two or three months would be good.

Lin Cha below was stunned for a long while after hearing this. He looked at His Royal Highness the Regent above with a strange expression on his face, and then he spoke

"Duke Ping is Zheng Zhilong, Your Highness, don't you know?"

Lin Cha had a strange look on his face. This prince even knew the origins of the Zheng family's pirates. It was obvious that he had done some research on the Zheng family.
But how come they don't know that Zheng Zhilong's title is Duke Pingguo? Isn't this kind of imperial title the most valued in the court?

"What did you say!"

Upon hearing this, Zhu Lang stood up from his chair and looked at Lin Cha below with a look of astonishment on his face.
(End of this chapter)