Yongli Ming Dynasty

Chapter 103 Zheng Family
Zhu Lang looked at Lin Cha below with a look of astonishment on his face.
"Zheng Zhilong was first granted the title of Nan'an Earl when the previous emperor came to power, and soon after was promoted to Nan'an Marquis. After the previous emperor ascended the throne, he was granted the title of Pingguo Duke."

Lin Cha seemed to notice the shock on His Royal Highness the Regent's face and spoke again.

"Didn't Zheng Zhilong surrender to the Qing Dynasty? Why did he lead his troops to withdraw from Fuzhou? If he didn't surrender to the Qing Dynasty, why did he give up Fuzhou City? Since he didn't surrender to the Qing Dynasty, why did he withdraw to Anping without defending such a big city?" Zhu Lang asked repeatedly.
"Fuzhou City was not surrendered, but was captured by the Qing army because of insufficient military strength and no way to defend it... Duke Pingguo is an important official of the country, how could he surrender to the Qing..."

Lin Cha subconsciously defended Zheng Zhilong, but he suddenly stopped talking because he didn't know what he remembered.
He was silent for a while, and then continued to speak

"I don't know why Duke Ping suddenly abandoned Fuzhou and retreated to Anping. The Zheng family has a large navy. Perhaps Duke Ping wanted to retreat to Yanhai and use the navy to contain the Qing army's advance."

In fact, this statement is also untenable. Anping is on the coast, and so is Fuzhou. If Anping can be defended, Fuzhou should be able to defend it even more.

But after Lin Cha finished speaking, he fell silent again and did not make any more excuses for Zheng Zhilong.
How could he not know that this reason was totally untenable?

Although he was only a garrison commander, he was also a garrison commander of Fuzhou, and was considered a mid-level general in the Zheng family.

There had long been rumors in Zheng's army that Zheng Zhilong was planning to surrender to the Qing Dynasty. Lin Cha certainly knew about this, but the generals above did not express their opinions, so they pretended not to know.
It was only after he discovered that Zheng Zhilong had suddenly led his troops to withdraw from Fuzhou City that he was certain that Zheng Zhilong was really preparing to surrender to the Qing Dynasty, and that Fuzhou City was probably Zheng Zhilong's sincerity to the Qing army.
However, although Zheng Zhilong left, he did not want to bear the infamy of abandoning the city and fleeing, so he left Lin Cha and others in Fuzhou, under the pretext of defense, but in fact he was using them as abandoned pawns to cover up Zheng Zhilong's abandonment of the city.

Zheng Zhilong did have a cover-up, but he never thought about the lives of his subordinates who stayed in the city. So after discovering that the Qing army's vanguard appeared outside Fuzhou City, he decided to flee immediately.

Zheng Zhilong left more than a thousand people in Fuzhou. Fuzhou is such a big city, and a thousand people scattered in the city can't even make a splash. What else can he do but escape?
If Zheng Zhilong had taken him to evacuate, how could he have met the King of Tang? If he hadn't met the King of Tang, how could he have ended up in Guangdong Province and been involved in a conspiracy case?

He was loyal to Zheng Zhilong, but what did Zheng Zhilong think of him?

When Lin Cha thought of this, his face became more and more sad and angry, but Zhu Lang above him could no longer care about Lin Cha below him.
Zheng Zhilong had not surrendered to the Qing Dynasty in late October!
Zhu Lang's eyes flashed with a gleam of brilliance, and his mind raced. Zheng Zhilong had only abandoned Fuzhou and retreated to Anping on October 14, and the Qing army's vanguard had only reached Fuzhou on the 16th. How could the Qing army enter the city and loot without delay? It had already been more than 20 days.
Zheng Zhilong did not surrender to the Qing Dynasty smoothly, which must be because the conditions were not negotiated well. However, he was afraid that the Qing army would directly attack, so he gave up Fuzhou City to show his sincerity.

Zheng Zhilong's army of more than 100,000 is definitely not easy to negotiate with. Fuzhou and Anping are separated by distance, and there is no such thing as telegraph. The messenger is the only one who can deliver messages. The two sides can only talk three or five times, and it may take a month.
It is now the second day of November, and it has only been less than ten days. In other words, it is very likely that Zheng Zhilong has not surrendered to the Qing Dynasty yet. He still has a chance!
Zhu Lang's mind suddenly became clear. Thinking of the hundreds of thousands of troops under the Zheng family, and more importantly, the countless large ships, his eyes became even brighter.

He suddenly looked down at Lin Cha and said

"Are you sure that Zheng Zhilong really did not surrender to the Qing Dynasty?"

"On the 20th, I found a ship and sailed to Guangdong. At least at that time, Duke Ping had not surrendered to the Qing Dynasty. As for what happened afterwards, I don't know," Lin Cha replied in a deep voice.
Although Zhu Lang was asking Lin Cha, he had already determined in his heart that Zheng Zhilong should not have surrendered to the Qing Dynasty at this time.
Surrendering to the Qing Dynasty was no small matter. Although the Zheng family was founded by Zheng Zhilong, the Zheng family army suddenly expanded to more than 100,000 people in a dozen years, and there must have been various factions and opinions within the family.
If Zheng Zhilong wanted to surrender, then there must be someone who didn't want to surrender. Apart from anything else, Zhu Lang knew that his son Zheng Chenggong was unwilling to surrender.
Although Zheng Zhilong had great prestige in the Zheng family, it was certainly impossible for him to make people obey his orders with just one word.

After Zhu Lang ascended the throne, he also became more aware of how difficult it was to make a decision within a group with many factions.

The Qing troops were approaching, so it was only natural to send troops to guard the border.

But the court was arguing over whether to send troops to garrison Nanxiong, and Qu Shisi and Ding Kuichu were arguing to the death.

Zhu Lang did not believe that surrendering to the Qing Dynasty was such a big deal. If Zheng Zhilong nodded, all the generals would obey his orders.

If they just followed the change of the imperial court, there might not be much backlash within the Zheng clan, but if they surrendered to the Qing army, they would have to cut their hair and keep their braids.

Modern people may think that cutting hair is disgusting at most, but in this era, the hair on your body is given by your parents.

Add to that the background of the Eastern Tartars invading and slaughtering the Han people, cutting your hair and keeping a braid will make people criticize you!
Regardless of the attitude of the generals in the upper echelons of the Zheng family, when Zheng Zhilong surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, the upper echelons of the Zheng family were naturally rewarded, but the soldiers under the Zheng family would not benefit from surrendering to the Qing Dynasty. They still received the few cents of military pay.

These ordinary soldiers could not get any benefits, and they might be forced to cut their hair and keep their braids. How could there not be a backlash? Once the soldiers below were resentful, it would provide an opportunity for ambitious people from other factions within the Zheng family to take advantage of it. Zheng Zhilong was indeed powerful, but no one in the Zheng family really wanted to replace him.

Or maybe it is precisely because Zheng Zhilong is so powerful that more people want to rise up and replace him!
Under such circumstances of internal and external difficulties, Zhu Lang was confident that there was a 70% to 80% chance that Zheng Zhilong had not formally surrendered to the Qing Dynasty.

It's not that he doesn't want to, it's that he simply can't do it
70% to 80% is enough for him to gamble
Zhu Lang thought of this, his face became serious, he looked at Lin Cha below, and spoke again

"What is the internal situation of the Zheng family? Who are the people in it? Who among them wants to surrender, and who still has feelings for the court?"

"This is your one chance, you have to think carefully"

Zhu Lang spoke in a cold voice. Lin Cha, who was standing below, heard the words of His Royal Highness the Regent, and his eyes suddenly lit up. He knew that this was where his chance of survival lay!
But the more this happened, the more cautious he became. Lin Cha stood in the room and thought carefully, but he didn't speak for a long time.

Zhu Lang did not urge him, but just sat quietly behind the table, his eyes moving around, wondering what he was thinking.

After about half a minute, Lin Cha finally calmed down and spoke respectfully.

"I am only a low-ranking official in Zheng's army, and much of the information I know is just rumors within the army, and I cannot guarantee that it is true."

"It doesn't matter, just say what you think in your heart."

Zhu Lang responded, and after adding this sentence, Lin Cha no longer hesitated and began to talk about the situation in Zheng's army.

"Among the Zheng family, the most powerful is naturally the Zheng family. Zheng Zhilong is the leader of the Zheng family. All major military affairs are decided by Zheng Zhilong alone. Although Zheng Zhilong has great prestige, after suppressing Zheng Hongkui, he no longer directly manages actual military affairs."

"The Zheng family's direct line of troops are now all managed by the former Duke of Dingguo, Zheng Hongkui. Zheng Hongkui is Zheng Zhilong's younger brother. After he bowed his head to Zheng Zhilong, he has gained Zheng Zhilong's trust."

"Zheng Hongkui is divided into two divisions. The Zheng family's direct army is led by Zheng Zhibao, the Earl of Chengji, who is also Zheng Zhilong's younger brother. The navy is under the jurisdiction of Zheng Cai, the Earl of Yongsheng, who is also Zheng Zhilong's cousin."

"The land forces in Fujian Province are fine, as Zheng's direct lineage does not have many of them. However, the army of Fujian Province has always been based on the navy, and most of the navy is under the command of Zheng Cai. So even though Zheng Zhilong is no longer in charge of actual military affairs, the army is still firmly controlled by the Zheng family."

"Where are the generals from other families?"

Zhu Lang's eyes flashed and he asked softly
It was natural for the Zheng family to control the military power, and Zhu Lang was not surprised.

Lin Cha's introduction did give Zhu Lang a clearer understanding of the Zheng family members, but Zhu Lang was more concerned about the generals with other surnames in the Zheng army.
"Among the Zheng clan generals, there are two leaders. Among them, Wuyi Bo Shifu is the most powerful. It is said that he is in charge of tens of thousands of infantry and cavalry. I don't know the exact number, but it is more than the troops under Zheng Zhibao..."

Lin Cha was halfway through his speech when he was suddenly interrupted by His Royal Highness the Regent behind the desk.
"Shi Fu, is there another person named Shi Lang under him?"

"Yes, Shi Lang is Shi Fu's nephew, and he is also famous in the Fujian Army."

"This man is now in his twenties and is already a general under Shi Fu. He is brave enough to fight and kill, and he is not a mediocre person who rose to power by relying on Shi Fu."

Lin Cha looked at the young man behind the table, with a strange look on his face.
He really felt that the Regent was a little weird. He said he knew the Zheng family, but he didn't even know that Zheng Zhilong was the Duke of Pingguo. He said he didn't know, but he even knew that Shi Fu had a nephew named Shi Lang. He really didn't know how the Regent's subordinates collected intelligence for him.
(End of this chapter)