Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 185 Have you lost your foundation?
Most people have a thieving heart.

As the saying goes: Are kings, princes, generals, and ministers born into a certain class?

It is also said: The emperor takes turns to sit at the throne, and this year it is my turn.

In the minds of Chinese people, such a high position is not something that belongs to one family or one surname. In the end, it means whoever has the ability can sit on it.

So the question is, who is considered capable?

Hmm. This question is quite complicated. Strength, power, prestige, and reputation are all extremely important reference standards. If you want to discuss them in detail, I am afraid you may not be able to come up with a conclusion even if you spend three days and three nights.

However, at this specific moment, his Zheng family is definitely not able to meet such standards.

To put it more bluntly, this group of people are far from being able to reach their most proud strength, let alone other things?

Zheng Zhilong understood this, and Zheng Hongkui naturally understood it as well. The reason why they set their sights on those princes was simply to take advantage of the moment when His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was defeated and killed.

And when His Highness returned triumphantly and won another battle against the Tartars, Zheng Hongkui's mood was actually not much more stable than Zhang Yinli's before.

"Fourth Master, there's news from the shore that the local people are scared."

"Snapped!"

Before the sailor finished speaking, Zheng Hongkui swept the tea bowl on the table to the ground. It was obvious that his already bad mood became even worse after hearing the news.

This is not surprising. Earlier, the local gang had been hiding outside and had not returned yet, so he could naturally follow their example. But now that there was no one standing in front of him, he became the one who stood out.

In this situation, no one would be in a good mood.

"What! What!"

He wanted to ask why he was so easily cowardly, but thinking of the "civil uprising", he just said "why" twice.

The "civil uprising" broke out suddenly, but Fang Guoan's troops responded even faster.

As far as he knew, from the time that group of people entered the avenue until the time when the government troops rushed out, it took less than even an incense stick of time.

What else could this mean other than that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was well prepared?
Under such circumstances, how can we expect the local people in Hangzhou to persevere?

"Then Huang Daozhou didn't have a hard top?"

"I don't know about that, but looking at the people who got beaten up, I'm afraid they won't be too tough even if they resist."

"Humph! Liu Zongzhou's men were stabbed, but Huang Daozhou didn't feel sorry at all."

After getting a general understanding of the situation in the city, Zheng Hongkui started to complain.

It is said that if you aim for the best, you will get the middle; if you aim for the middle, you will get the worst.

When the incident first happened, although Zhu Cilang did not act as if he was going to kill them all, the fact that he allowed Ma Shiying to throw all kinds of accusations on these people's heads clearly spoke volumes about his attitude.

Regardless of whether Zhu Cilang deliberately or unintentionally displayed this attitude, the pressure it caused to Huang Daozhou can be easily imagined.

In this situation, what else can he do except to cut off his tail and survive?

Is he really going to confront His Highness and then provoke him to anger, allowing things to develop in the way Ma Shiying expected?
Anyone who has experienced court battles can probably see this, but Zheng Hongkui, whether he was pretending to be stupid or really stupid, mocked Huang Daozhou before asking the sailor, "Anything else?"

"Then Zhu Dadian led his troops into the city."

"Well."

Zheng Hongkui didn't seem to care about the news. He responded absentmindedly and began to think about it secretly.

It is difficult to take a step forward, to be in a dilemma, and to be stuck in a quandary.

There are so many words that can describe his current situation, but none of them are good.

When he was deceiving that group of princes, he did have some backup plans, but those plans were at most to help Zhu Cilang escape by chance, but he really didn't make any arrangements for returning victoriously.

As the saying goes, if you don't plan ahead, you will fail.

He had not expected that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince would annihilate all 40,000 Tartars, so he had to be prepared to pay a corresponding price. However, such a price would certainly not be too small, which made the wealthy Zheng Hongkui hesitate.

"Fourth Master! Someone is coming from the city!"

Just when Zheng Hongkui didn't know how to respond, the cabin door was pushed open from the outside, and then a sailor rushed in.

"In the city? Who?"

Normally he hated the pirate habits in the fleet, but the word "in the city" instantly drew all his attention and saved the sailor from a scolding.

"It was the guards. They said he was sent by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to deliver a message."

Pass a message? What message?

Upon hearing this news, Zheng Hongkui couldn't help but feel nervous.

As soon as he had dealt with the local forces in Hangzhou, they immediately sent people to convey messages to him.

If you say that there is no malicious intent in the words that were spread, I'm afraid anyone with a little bit of common sense would not believe it.

just
Does he have the courage to take those princes away?

The family knows their own affairs.

In the early days, when the Red Haired Devils had not yet risen to power, that group of French people only wanted to do some business with the Ming Dynasty and had no intention of competing with the Zheng family for territory.

But later, that group of red-haired devils defeated the Portuguese somewhere, and became more and more aggressive in Luzon, Malacca and other places.

As the struggle between the two sides becomes increasingly intense, business at sea becomes increasingly difficult.

If Zheng Zhilong had not seen the opportunity and accepted the court's amnesty early on, and then shifted part of his focus to the mainland, who knows how long the Zheng family fleet that once crisscrossed the South China Sea could have lasted in the aftermath of the struggle between the two sides.

In this situation, Zheng Hongkui could make some small moves when the court was too busy to take care of itself, but when Zhu Cilang returned with a great victory, how could he dare to act recklessly and risk being suppressed on land?
"Please invite the angel in."

As soon as the words fell, the sailor took the order and left. Although Zheng Hongkui's face was a little uncertain, his hands unconsciously straightened his clothes.

"I am going to see the angel."

In a moment, a sound of footsteps was heard, and Zheng Hongkui knelt on the ground as soon as he saw someone.

God have mercy on me, how could the soldiers from the Imperial Guard who came to deliver the message have ever received a visit from such a high-ranking official?

Even though he knew that this "angel" was most likely referring to himself, he still felt at a loss for a while.

"Um, General Zheng, His Highness is asking whether your Zheng family has the will to be independent."

As soon as the words fell, Zheng Hongkui felt a pang in his heart.

At this moment, he thought of the situation of his Zheng family after being suppressed by both land and sea. "Angel, see clearly~~! My Zheng family is loyal to the Ming Dynasty, how can we have the desire to be independent!"

Seeing the general crying like this in front of him, the guard laughed twice and turned away quickly.

He had been following Zhu Cilang since the latter was still in prisoner's uniform. He knew that as the prestige of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince grew, even a laborer like himself would have a higher status.

However, he never imagined that one day a high-ranking officer like the general would actually fall down in front of him and cry, which scared the soldiers who were unprepared.

After leaving Zheng's boat, he returned to the camp to report to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. After telling him roughly what he had seen and heard, he retreated out of the tent.

But who knew that when he was halfway out of the tent, he heard another burst of crying.

"Your Highness! General Zheng Hongkui of Zhenjiang! I wish to see His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, the Regent!"

familiar.

Thinking of this, the guard turned his head and took a look. When he saw that the person lying outside the tent was Zheng Hongkui, he was not particularly surprised.

After all, the questions His Highness asked were too shocking. Not to mention that he was a general, even the Prime Minister would have rushed over to explain.

"Come in."

As the voice came out from the tent, Zheng Hongkui stood up hurriedly. After a set of greetings that was even more grand than Zhang Yinli's, the fourth head of the Zheng family finally knelt down in Zhu Cilang's tent.

"General Zheng, why did you come to my tent instead of admiring the moon on the river?"

The question was asked calmly, as if he was not the one who sent the soldiers to deliver the message earlier.

To be honest, in the minds of later generations, the Zheng family was well-connected and resolutely accepted the imperial court's offer of amnesty when they were at the peak of their prosperity.

But when Tan Changyuan described the general situation at sea, those seemingly unrelated memories in Zhu Cilang's mind were instantly connected.

Netherlands.

Before Zheng Zhilong was recruited, his sea base was Taiwan, but one of Zheng Chenggong's achievements was taking Taiwan back from the Dutch.

Not only did the Dutch seize Taiwan and continuously harass the Ming Dynasty's coast, they also attempted to send warships into the Yangtze River.

If the Ming navy had not been like the Tartars, something similar to the "Opium War" might have occurred in China as early as the middle of the seventeenth century.

Thinking in this way, if Zheng Zhilong still maintained a strong force at sea, would he allow the enemy to act recklessly within his sphere of influence?
It can be said that his acceptance of the imperial amnesty was a helpless move after he could no longer stand on the sea.

After realizing this, how could Zhu Cilang allow a group of pirates who had lost their foundation to run around in front of him?

"Your Highness! I was confused! I should have come to see you the day before yesterday when you returned to Hangzhou, but I shouldn't have stayed on the river because I was worried about being blamed~~!"

Zheng Hongkui's reaction seemed to confirm Zhu Cilang's idea. Their foundation at sea had indeed suffered a considerable impact, and they began to attach more importance to land.

On the surface, it seemed that Zhu Cilang took a gamble without being sure of the situation at sea, but in fact, when he linked the world situation with his own environment, there was no question of whether to gamble or not.

Due to China's geographical location, when talking about China's past history, although the connection with the world is also mentioned, such discussion mostly only stays shallowly at the trade level, and China is rarely regarded as a part of the world.

Take the Zheng family for example. If the war between the Netherlands and Spain had not spread to the Western Pacific and Eastern Indian Oceans, how could Zheng Zhilong give up his position as the emperor of the sea and instead accept the amnesty?

After understanding this, who would not think of the suppression the Zheng family suffered at sea? Who would not think of the significance of land to them?

Based on this, how could the Prince Regent of the Ming Dynasty, who had already gained a strategic advantage over the Tartars, continue to flatter the Zheng family?

"I won't mention anything else. Tell me how the war between the Netherlands and the Francoise is going."

When he just finished speaking, Zheng Hongkui seemed to not quite understand what the Netherlands was, but after a moment he suddenly raised his head as if he had thought of something, and the expression on his face was as if he had seen a ghost.

Everyone calls them red-haired devils, and this is also the name given to the people of the Ming Dynasty who make a living on the sea.

But when he heard the three words "Netherlands", he suddenly remembered that the self-proclaimed name of those red-haired devils seemed to be extremely similar to the pronunciation of these words.

How could he not be frightened and lose his composure in such a situation?
"You do not know?"

"Know, know."

Facing Zhu Cilang's questioning, Zheng Hongkui responded several times and then poured out everything he knew.

"A few years ago, the Reds and the Frankies had a big fight in their hometown."

After talking for a while, although Zheng Hongkui was not very clear about the origins of many things, Zhu Cilang generally understood what stage the battle for supremacy between the Netherlands and Spain had reached.

At this time, the Battle of the Downs had been fought for several years, and the strongest force at sea had changed from the Spanish to the Dutch.

However, the Spanish did not agree to the independence of the "Seven Northern Provinces" because of the failure of their naval power. The Dutch also launched a tit-for-tat battle with the Spanish all over the world, including Europe.

Specifically in Asia, the Spanish power was continuously squeezed by the Dutch. Not only did they lose Malacca, but even the Zheng family, their trading partner, was targeted by the Dutch.

It is worth mentioning that during this process, in order to consolidate their rule in Luzon, the Spaniards launched a large-scale massacre of the Chinese here in a brutal manner.

In short, the sea was in chaos due to the struggle between the two powers, and the trade routes were naturally not as smooth as before.

"Well, I have a general idea. When you are done, you, Earl Nan'an, will write a letter and tell him that I want Zheng Sen to do something."

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's change of topic was not abrupt, but the implication gave Zheng Hongkui a fright.

Zheng Sen is the eldest son of his elder brother Zheng Zhilong. He is only in his twenties. What can he do?

It was obvious that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was asking him to do something, but in fact he was asking for a hostage.

If it were in the past, Zheng Hongkui would probably have made excuses, but now Zhu Cilang obviously knew the Zheng family's weaknesses, so Zheng Hongkui had to consider the entire Zheng family even if he had to risk his own life.

"The palace is."

"Don't worry. I am not a ruthless person. As long as the Zheng family can be loyal to the Ming Dynasty, why would I be reluctant to give them a place to stay?"

After being comforted, Zheng Hongkui left the military tent with mixed feelings, while Zhu Guobi, who stayed in the tent, also felt turbulent.

He had heard of the Netherlands, France, Luzon, Java, and Malacca, but he had no idea how they were connected.

This is nothing. After all, ever since he knew these things, he has always regarded them as foreign barbarians.

It was only after Zheng Hongkui finished speaking that he realized that those foreign countries seemed to have powerful strength on the sea, and even the Zheng family was extremely wary of them.

And His Royal Highness the Crown Prince actually knows all of these? ! ! ! ! !
"The Duke has been busy all day, so go and rest if you have nothing else to do."

Zhu Cilang ordered Zhu Guobi to leave, so even if he still had doubts in his heart, he had no choice but to take his leave.

At this point, the Crown Prince Regent of the Ming Dynasty had time to carefully consider the unusual things that happened during his meeting with Li Benshen.

(End of this chapter)